Geoethics at EGU 2026

EGU - General Assembly 2026

3-8 May 2026

The General Assembly 2026 of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) is held at the Austria Center Vienna (ACV) in Vienna, Austria, from 3 to 8 May 2026. The assembly is open to the scientists of all nations. The entire congress centre is fully accessible by wheelchairs.

IAPG, IUGS Commission on Geoethics, and the CIPSH Chair on Geoethics co-sponsor the Session EOS4.1 "Geoethics: Linking Geoscience Knowledge, Ethical Responsibility, and Action", the Short Course SC1.11 "Grappling with geoethical values and principles: A hands-on, participatory workshop", and the Great Debate GDB2 "The ethics of using Artificial Intelligence in the Geosciences - Opportunities and Risks".

EGU26 website: https://www.egu26.eu/

EOS4.1: Geoethics: Linking Geoscience Knowledge, Ethical Responsibility, and Action

Conveners

Silvia Peppoloni, David Croookall, Giuseppe Di Capua, Anita Di Chiara

Session description

Geoscientists play a key role in providing essential information in decision-making processes that consider environmental, social, and economic consequences of geoscience work. Therefore, their responsibilities extend beyond scientific analysis alone. Global challenges, such as climate change, resource management, and disaster risk reduction, push geoscientists to expand their role beyond research and to engage ethically in public efforts.
Geoethics provides a framework for reflecting on the ethical, social, and cultural implications of geoscience in research, practice, and education, guiding responsible action for society and the environment. It also encourages the scientific community to move beyond purely technical solutions by embracing just, inclusive, and transformative approaches to socio-environmental issues.
Furthermore, science is inseparable from social and geopolitical contexts. These conditions shape what research is funded, whose knowledge is valued, with whom we collaborate, and who has access to conferences. As Earth and planetary scientists, we must consider the human and environmental consequences of our work. This is especially true in Earth observation, where many satellites have both scientific and military applications, and where scientific tools have at times enabled ecocide and resource exploitation under neocolonial systems.
This session will offer insights and reflections across a wide range of topics, from theoretical considerations to case studies, foster awareness and discussion of sensitive issues at the geoscience–society interface and explore how geoethics can guide responsible behavior and policies in the geosciences.

Co-organized by CL3.2/ERE1/SM9/SSS12, co-sponsored by IAPG, IUGS Commission on Geoethics, and CIPSH Chair on Geoethics

Programme:

Orals | Monday, 04 May 2026, 14:00–18:00 (CEST), Room D3
Posters on site | Attendance Monday, 04 May 2026, 10:45–12:30 (CEST) | Display Monday, 04 May 2026, 08:30–12:30, Hall X1
Posters virtual | Friday, 08 May 2026, 14:15–15:45 (CEST), vPoster spot 5, Friday, 08 May 2026, 16:15–18:00 (CEST), vPoster

Orals (Room D3 - 4 May 2026, 14:00-18:00 CEST):

Chairpersons: Silvia Peppoloni, Giuseppe Di Capua

14:00–14:05: 5-minute convener introduction
14:05–14:15: EGU26-4534 On-site presentation: Ecological Moral Voluntarism is a Corollary of Ethical Education (Jeannine G.M. de Caluwe, Guido J.M. Verstraeten, and Willem W. Verstraeten)
14:15–14:25: EGU26-195 On-site presentation: Paving the way for geoethics pedagogy in Ghana: what students’ geoethical reasoning reveals (Samuel Nyarko, Yvonne Loh, Maame Opokua Debrah, and Gwyneth Gebhart)
14:25–14:35: EGU26-8782 On-site presentation: Humanising Natural History Collections: Putting CARE principles into practice in the geosciences in Australia (Simon Haberle, Annika Herbert, Simon Goring, and Jessica Blois)
14:35–14:45: EGU26-20027 ECS On-site presentation: Critical Sustainability in Geosciences — A praxis (Janne J. Salovaara and Katja Anniina Lauri)
14:45–14:55: EGU26-12580 ECS On-site presentation: Worker Co-operative Research Laboratories; An Alternative Model for Ambitious Science (Jacqueline Campbell, Barbara Bertozzi, Paul Borne--Pons, Alistair Francis, and Mikolaj Czerkawski)
14:55–15:05: EGU26-20469 On-site presentation: Social impact or impact washing? The case for a deeper ethical understanding and concrete action (Rosa Rantanen)
15:05–15:15: EGU26-1896 Highlight On-site presentation: Fostering the ethical use of Artificial Intelligence in the Geosciences (Paul Cleverley, Mrinalini Kochupillai, Mark Lindsay, and Emma Ruttkamp-Bloem)
15:15–15:25: EGU26-10555 ECS On-site presentation: Translating causal models into environmental practice (Vasileios Sitokonstantinou)
15:25–15:35: EGU26-5772 On-site presentation: An Ethical Framework for Climate Intervention Research: Keeping Pace with Rapidly Evolving Needs (Billy Williams, Mark Shimamoto, Janice Lachance, Lexi Shultz, and Hisayo Harlan)
15:35–15:45: EGU26-1493 On-site presentation: Toward a Geoethical Framework for Living Climate Interventions under International Maritime Law (Dov Greenbaum)
15:45-16:15: Coffee break

Chairpersons: Anita Di Chiara, David Crookall

16:15–16:25: EGU26-2615 On-site presentation: Four-pillar policy recommendation to increase the European Union’s critical raw material resilience (Ludwig Hermann and Minja Marijanski)
16:25–16:35: EGU26-7672 On-site presentation: Meeting the Moment: Sustaining Climate Science and Engagement in Shifting Policy Environments (Janice Lachance, Brandon Jones, and Mark Shimamoto)
16:35–16:45: EGU26-1584 ECS On-site presentation: Towards Inclusive and Ethical SRM Governance in Pakistan: Bridging Policy Gaps and Global South Representation (Abdul Waheed, Athar Hussain, Hassaan Sipra, and Kanwal Latif)
16:45–16:55: EGU26-22759 On-site presentation: Interactive simulation with En-ROADS spurs climate action among decision-makers (Juliette Rooney-Varga, Lucia Cheney, Rachel Coleman, Andrew Jones, Florian Kapmeier, Peyton Newsome, Krystal Noiseux, Bethany Patten, Kenneth Rath, and John Sterman)
16:55–17:05: EGU26-2863 On-site presentation: ClimarisQ: What can we learn by playing a game for climate education? (Davide Faranda, Lucas Taligrot, Pascal Yiou, and Nada Caud)
17:05–17:15: EGU26-21666 On-site presentation: From Polar Science to Public Action: 30 Years of the Ukrainian Antarctic Station Akademik Vernadsky in Times of Polycrisis (Svitlana Krakovska, Anastasiia Chyhareva, Olena Marushevska, Anna Torgonenko, and Evgen Dykyi)
17:15–17:25: EGU26-4110 Virtual presentation: Results of the Skeptical Science experiment and impacts on relaunched website (Bärbel Winkler and John Cook)
17:25–17:35: EGU26-21981 ECS Virtual presentation: Political Education in Science: Two Years of Palestine Space Institute (Divya M Persaud, Sahba El-Shawa, Aj Link, and Giuliana Rotola)
17:35–17:45: EGU26-21044 On-site presentation: Beyond Scientific Neutrality: Ethical Responsibility and Geopolitical Accountability in Public Research Institutions (Stefano Corradini, Daniele Andronico, Carlo Alberto Brunori, Gianfilippo De Astis, Raffaele Di Stefano, Claudia D'Oriano, Valentino Lauciani, Tomaso Esposti Ongaro, Chiara Montagna, Rosa Nappi, Rosella Nave, Paolo Perfetti, Monia Procesi, Dario Stelitano, and Manuela Volpe)
17:45–17:55: EGU26-8661 ECS On-site presentation: Best practices for geosciences in the time of crises (Shahzad Gani)
17:55–18:00: discussion

Posters (Room Hall X1 - 4 May 2026, 08:30-12:30 CEST, attendance 10:45–12:30 CEST):

Chairpersons: Giuseppe Di Capua, David Crookall

X1.136: EGU26-1745 A Geoethics-Informed Flow Process for Applying the Relational Geoscientific Pragmatism (RGP) Framework (Giuseppe Di Capua and Silvia Peppoloni)
X1.137: EGU26-36 ECS Geoethical Consideration in the Understanding of Population Representation and Perception of Flooding Risk Management in Bukavu, DR Congo (Jean-Robert Nshokano Mweze)
X1.138: EGU26-10832 Geoethics across the Geoscience Curriculum (Carl-Georg Bank)
X1.139: EGU26-10881 How can education address the planetary crisis and steer it in a positive direction? (Sjoerd Kluiving, Anouk Beniest, Karen Verduijn, Mario Torralba, Katinka Quintelier, Jorim Tielbeek, Sarah Foster, Lisa Ausic, Anco Lankreijer, Jaro Pichel, Wouter Buursma, Serxia Lagearias, Anders Schinkel, Ivar Maas, Scott Dalby, and Martin Bohle)
X1.140: EGU26-387 ECS From play to principle or not: Geoethical aspects of climate change simulation/games (Pimnutcha Promduangsri, Nicolas Becu, and David Crookall)
X1.141: EGU26-21402 Practicing geoethics in Earth system modeling (Iris Ehlert)
X1.142: EGU26-7691 From Training to Action: Building concrete pathways for Workplace Well-Being (Agata Sangianantoni, Valeria De Paola, Giuliana Rubbia, and Giovanna Maracchia)
X1.143: EGU26-1463 Designing Geoethics for Cultural Milieus: The Inverse Problem (Martin Bohle)
X1.144: EGU26-5948 Regenerative agriculture: searching for meaning via definition and philosophy (Kate Congreves)
X1.145: EGU26-14505 Scale matters, but not always by scaling up (Cornelia E. Nauen)
X1.146: EGU26-14156 Building an Ethical and Responsible Workforce: An AI/ML Training Strategy for Earth System Science (Rebecca Haacker, Thomas Hauser, Monica Morrison, and Mariana Cains)
X1.147: EGU26-22232 Community-based propagation: Systems science insights for rapid scaling of climate action and cooperation (Juliette Rooney-Varga, Lucia Cheney, Thysan Sam, and Sothea Chiemruom)
X1.148: EGU26-5020 Transformative Agency in Climate Education (TRACE): A Project Linking Climate Literacy, Individual and Collective Action (Thomas Schubatzky, Sarah Wildbichler, Matthias Fasching, Johanna Kranz, and Giulia Tasquier)
X1.149: EGU26-17509 Sedimentologika 3 years after the opening : reflecting on diamond open access and scholarly-led ventures in scientific publishing (Camille Thomas, Romain Vaucher, Maria-Cristina Arrieta-Martinez, Domenico Chiarella, Rebecca Englert, Jarred Lloyd, Victor Hême de Lacotte, Marta Marchegiano, Aurelia Privat, and Faizan Sabir)
X1.150: EGU26-20237 Buy Hard: Climate, Hazards, and Natural Resources across Geopolitical fault lines (Umberto Fracassi)
X1.151: EGU26-11674 Spatial quantification of the impact of the Russo–Ukrainian War on landscape fires and greenhouse gas emissions (2022-2025) (Sergiy Zibtsev, Roman Vasylyshyn, Rostyslav Bun, Lennard de Klerk, Oleksandr Soshenskyi, Svitlana Krakovska, Linda See, Mykola Shlapak, Volodymyr Blyshchyk, Lidiia Kryshtop, Zoriana Romanchuk, Orysia Yashchun, Eugene Kalchuk, Yuriy Rymarenko, and Iryna Zibtseva)
X1.152: EGU26-11682 ECS Bridging science and education: The Handbook for Climate Change Adaptation Strategies (Ana Madiedo Camelo, Ana Matias, A. Rita Carrasco, and Óscar Ferreira)
X1.153: EGU26-22677 Designing for impact: How interactive climate simulations foster learning, engagement and action (Florian Kapmeier, Andrew Jones, and John Sterman)
X1.154: EGU26-1607 A Systemist’s and Agathonist’s Take on Geoethics (Eduardo Marone, Luis Marone, and Martin Bohle)

Posters virtual (vPoster spot 5 VPS1 - 8 May 2026, 14:00–18:00 CEST, discussion time 16:15–18:00 CEST):

Chairpersons: Ignacio Aguirre, Anita Di Chiara, Zoltán Erdős

14:09–14:12: EGU26-7904 | ECS | Posters virtual: The United States' critical minerals security policies in the context of neomercantilism and their impact on global geological studies (İbrahim Kürşat Tuna)
14:12–14:15: EGU26-1853 | Posters virtual: Measuring Geoethical Awareness and Engagement Profiles in UNESCO Global Geoparks: A Validated Scale and Evidence from Greece (Alexandros Aristotelis Koupatsiaris and Hara Drinia)
14:15–14:18: EGU26-1432 | Posters virtual: The Anthropocene as Earth’s natural to unnatural history transition (Emlyn Koster, Philip Gibbard, and Martin Gibling)

Session EOS4.1

Short Course SC1.11

Great Debate GDB2

EOS4.1

IAPG sessions at EGU from 2012
(15 years of IAPG sessions on geoethics at the EGU General Assembly)

SC1.11

SC1.11: Grappling with geoethical values and principles: A hands-on, participatory workshop

Conveners

David Crookall, Giuseppe Di Capua, Berill Blair, Pimnutcha Promduangsri, Sebastián Granados

Session description

Values clarification exercises are often used to enable people together to work through complex issues in which differing, contradictory, unexplicated or hidden values may influence beliefs, principles and behaviours, including decisions. Such exercises allow us to become more aware of the ways in which values relate to our geoethical principles and behaviours. Values include such things as truth, discipline, fairness, integrity and openness.

It is difficult to help people learn about geoethics. This is partly because it concerns such a wide range of circumstances, from specific instances, such as the effect of mining on child labour, through our personal geoscientific behaviour, to the way in which humans treat the Earth’s natural resources. It is also not easy, particularly in schools and universities, because the concepts are so wide-ranging and young people are still exploring and getting to grips with their personal values, values that underlie their principles and behaviours, especially in regard to the Earth.

Practical geoethical values clarification exercises can help people:

to compare their values with others and thus to modify their and others’ values;
to clarify the relationship between geoethical principles and their underlying values; and
to understand how their values and principles influence their behaviours, in regard to fellow geoscientists and to the Earth’s natural resources.

This Short Course will be conducted in a fully participatory, workshop format:
a. starting with short overviews of geoethics and of clarification exercises;
b. followed by a series of hands-on, small-group activities; and
c. ending with a debriefing session and a discussion.

Both experts and novices in geoethics and values/principles are welcome in this Short Course; teachers, researchers and students will benefit. For novices, especially, a little preparation before the course will help.
If possible:

please read: https://www.lyellcollection.org/doi/10.1144/SP508-2020-191, or https://presentations.copernicus.org/EGU21/EGU21-604_presentation.pdf
Think about your own personal and professional values.
Please bring some blank paper, a pen and an internet-enabled laptop or telephone (with QR code capability).

Please note that materials will allow up to 12 participants, on a first-come basis. Additional people will be invited to do guided observation in silence during the exercise, and then contribute actively during the debriefing and discussion.

Co-organized by EOS4

Programme:

Wednesday, 06 May 2026, 10:45–12:30 (CEST), Room 0.55

GDB2

GDB2: The ethics of using Artificial Intelligence in the Geosciences - Opportunities and Risks

Conveners

Jens Klump, Alice-Agnes Gabriel, Giuseppe Di Capua

Session description

In 2025, the Commission on Geoethics of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) developed recommendations for the ethical application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in geosciences. The report discusses eight themes where ethical concerns surrounding AI are particularly relevant to the geosciences: human responsibility in AI use; transparency and explainability of AI systems; bias and fairness in data, models and algorithms; protection of personal data and informed consent; stakeholder and community participation; environmental protection; scientific integrity in research, publishing and education; and the geopolitical implications of AI deployment. Moving beyond high-level principles, the report makes actionable recommendations.

As AI capabilities and adoption in the geosciences grow, profound questions arise. In this Great Debate, the panellists will address key issues raised by AI applications and the necessary ethical considerations, and will invite the audience to share their views.

Programme:

Thursday, 07 May 2026, 08:30–10:15 (CEST), Room E1

IAPG sessions from 2012

IAPG Sessions on Geoethics at EGU General Assemblies from 2012:

EGU 2012

NH9.8/EOS9 - Geoethics and natural hazards: communication, education and the science-policy-practice interface (co-organized).

Conveners: S. Peppoloni, J. Wasowski, P. Reitan, G. Devoli, S.W. Kieffer, E. Lindquist

EGU 2013

NH9.8 - Geoethics and natural hazards: the role and responsibility of the geoscientists.

Conveners: S. Peppoloni, S.W. Kieffer, J. Wasowski

EGU 2014

NH9.8 - Geoethics: Ethical Challenges In Communication, Geoeducation And Management of Natural Hazards.