Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) approaches are becoming increasingly central to visions of decarbonizing national economies. The past few years have seen an increasing number of countries committed to net-zero targets, preceded by a surge of modelled 1.5°C scenarios envisioning large-scale future CDR deployment. The prospect of CDR deployment raises new complex socio-ecological challenges, and presents new deep uncertainties. These complexities, challenges and uncertainties cannot be investigated using solely the techno-economic modelling and environmental risk-assessment methods that currently dominate the construction of policy-relevant knowledge on CDR. Social sciences and the humanities perspectives on CDR are often restricted to instrumental tasks such as investigating public acceptance, overcoming social resistance or supporting the development of integrated assessment models. There is a need for more diverse investigations of CDR which include not only environmental and techno-economic dimensions, but also explore key societal complexities, challenges and uncertainties. Against this backdrop, we call for submissions on CDR stemming from perspectives within the social sciences and humanities. We encourage novel empirical and theoretical contributions on:

– CDR-related policy design or analyses of recent policy developments at sub-national, national and international levels of governance, e.g., in context of climate targets and strategies, climate tipping points, mitigation deterrence or societal transformations.

– Construction of knowledge in scientific discourse, e.g., critical reflections on the scenario/pathway literature and integrated assessment modeling, science communications, IPCC processes or science-policy relations.

– Historical and contemporary experiences of CDR in different cultural, geographical and political contexts, e.g. case studies, experience from developing countries, equity and responsibility distribution in North-South relations or geopolitical implications.

– Political and public debates on or controversies over CDR, e.g. using discourse theory or critical science and technology studies (STS) to analyse mass media or social media, scientific trends, ideological connections to CDR or shifting power relations.