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At the recent SynBioBeta conference, the annual gathering of the synthetic biology community, the topic of climate change was almost completely absent; aside from a few mentions by a handful of brave souls, the topic was essentially ignored. In private, attendees shared that even including terms like climate change, sustainability, or other euphemisms were non-starters for funders.
Turning to an engagement lens, attendees and presenters repeatedly pointed to the importance of storytelling, narrative, and trust building as requisite for gaining support for any sort of novel biotechnology (and for the field as a whole). The most effective examples of putting these techniques into use as part of an effective engagement strategy for synthetic biotechnologies came from the perspective of marketing and public relations with respect to consumer products, ranging from hair and skin care to cleaning products to food.
30 minutes up the road from SynBioBeta, researchers from Stanford University working directly at the sustainability/synthetic biology interface shared examples of promising techniques for addressing climate change as part of the Synthetic Biology for Sustainability Symposium. While the explicit focus on impactful work rooted in communities was a nice respite from the marked capitalism on display at SynBioBeta, the optimism in the room about the research being done was tempered by the daunting challenges of scaling up these technological approaches for implementation and deployment at scale.
What lessons do these meetings have for the climate biotech community in terms of developing, scaling and deploying technologies that address climate change? The Connecting Genetics to Climate team shared our questioning tool to help showcase how practitioners in these spaces could more effectively engage audiences around topics of interest.
We’ve also previously covered some of the core components of effective climate engagement strategies: Which messengers are being used? What content is being shared? How are messages being framed and delivered? Yet based on the discussions and attitudes on display in northern California last week, an obvious take-away is there is a need to reframe the discussion around both climate change and biotechnology.
To help start the process, we’ll be hosting an in-depth discussion next Monday (May 19) with our guest presenter Christina Agapakis, Ph.D. Christina will expand on some of the thoughts she shared about public engagement approaches following the Spirit of Asilomar conference that took place earlier in 2025. Her perspectives will build on our previous discussions and highlight work that is, and is not, being done (but should be!).
Do you have thoughts or experiences to share? Then comment below or join us for the webinar! Click here to register.
