In April 2024, Georgia Tech Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education (SCoRE) alongside the Direct Air Capture Center and the Strategic Energy Institute at Georgia Tech. hosted a DAC Symposium: Advancing Direct Air Capture for Community Benefit and Decarbonization. The event created a space for sharing stories, reflection, and serious discussion about the future of carbon removal technologies like Direct Air Capture (DAC). Framed around what DAC could mean for communities in the Southeastern U.S., the symposium brought together a diverse audience of researchers, community leaders, students, and government staff; around 85 participants in total.

The day featured:

• Keynote by Dr. Simone Stewart, Senior Industrial Policy Specialist, National Wildlife Federation set
• Technical presentation by Matthew Realff, a DAC researcher from Georgia Tech
• Panel conversation between community organizers and scientists, including Garry Harris from the Center for Sustainable Communities, Dr. Erica Holloman-Hill from Ayika Solutions, Dr. Yomi Noibi from ECO-Action, and Janelle Wright from West Atlanta Watershed Alliance. This conversation was facilitated by Jay Bassett, SCoRE Adviser & Dr. Jennifer Hirsch, Georgia Tech
• Facilitated conversation between Neva Espinoza from EPRI, Pamela Fann from Integrated Solutions, Kasia Kornecki from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Henry McKoy, Jr. from the U.S. Department of Energy, and Pamela Tomski from ENTECH Strategies. This conversation was facilitated by Dr. Comas Haynes, Georgia Tech Research Institute & Alicia Scott, Energy Foundation
• Listener reflections, inviting participants to share what resonated and what remained uncertain

Keynote Listener Remarks by Katrina Pielli, Director, Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), U.S. Department of Energy