Geoengineering Background and Key Impacts

The onset of climate change is now widely accepted and it is suggested that the impacts will be large, serious and unevenly spread.  A report by the Royal Society on geoengineering states that the best way to tackle climate change is by cutting emissions of greenhouse gases. However, the report notes that ‘Unless future efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are much more successful than they have been so far, additional action may be required should it become necessary to cool the Earth this century.’

There is therefore a strong need to research different potential geoengineering options and their environmental, social and regulatory implications

Geoengineering is defined as ‘the deliberate large-scale intervention in the Earth’s climate system, in order to moderate global warming’. It includes technologies which could either remove CO2 from the atmosphere or reduce global temperatures by reflecting sunlight back into space.

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), in partnership with Sciencewise-ERC is carrying out a public dialogue to explore the views of the public in relation to geoengineering. This dialogue is also linked to the Living With Environmental Change programme.

The moral, social and ethical implications of future research on geoengineering will be assessed through a series of workshops with members of the public, and NERC will use the dialogue to consider how future research relating to geoengineering should be directed, conducted and communicated.

The specific objectives of the dialogue are:

• To inform future NERC geoengineering research activity and strategy
• To identify areas of particular public concern about geoengineering, and ensure new research takes account of the needs and concerns of society on this topic.
• To increase public awareness of geoengineering and its potential implications, through dissemination of the results
• To inform policymakers of the outcomes, to help inform policymaking in this area
• To identify particular requirements for further dissemination from the research.