Dr. Wil Burns

Dr. Wil Burns is a prominent expert in carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and environmental policy, serving as Co-Director of the Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal at American University. His research focuses on the governance, ethical implications, and technical standards of CDR technologies like biochar, enhanced weathering and marine-based approaches, aiming for responsible, sustainable, and effective climate solutions. 

He serves as an advisor and consultant to a number of carbon dioxide removal start-up companies, as well as an advisor to carbon removal purchasers, including Frontier, and carbon removal verification companies, including Verra and Puro.earth. He has also served as an advisor to several international environmental treaty regimes.

Wil Burns holds a PhD in international law from the University of Wales-Cardiff School of Law (now Cardiff University School of Law & Politics). He is a Professor of Research and was the Co-Director of the Institute for Carbon Removal Law & Policy at American University. He also serves as a Senior Fellow in the International Law Research Program at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) in Canada, and as Co-Chair of the International Environmental Law Committee of the American Branch of the International Law Association. He directed the MS in Energy Policy and Climate Program at Johns Hopkins University, from 2012-2014, where he also taught courses in domestic and international climate change law and domestic energy law.

He previously served as President of the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences, and Co-Chair of the International Environmental Law interest group of the American Society of International Law. He has taught at various other academy institutions, including the University of California-Berkeley, Stanford University, Williams College, Colby College, Santa Clara University School of Law and the Monterey Institute of International Studies of Middlebury College. Prior to becoming an academic, he served as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs for the State of Wisconsin and worked in the non-governmental sector for twenty years, including as Executive Director of the Pacific Center for International Studies, a think-tank that focused on implementation of international wildlife treaty regimes, including the Convention on Biological Diversity and International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling.

His primary research focuses on carbon dioxide removal approaches to address climate change and the evolving framework on loss and damage under the Paris Agreement. He has published more than 80 articles and chapters across leading law, science, and policy journals and books, and has co-edited four volumes. His current work examines climate geoengineering, climate loss and damage, and the effectiveness of the European Union’s Emissions Trading System. His edited volume, Climate Change Geoengineering: Philosophical Perspectives, Legal Issues, and Governance Frameworks, is published by Cambridge University Press.