Global Climate Change - The Technology Challenge ADVANCES IN GLOBAL CHANGE RESEARCH

Abstract

Many in the international science and policy communities fear that the fundamental changes in human behavior, and in the global economy, that will be required to meaningfully reduce GHG emissions in the very near term are unattainable. In the 1970s, discussion of geoengineering, a radical strategy for arresting climate change by intentional, direct manipulation of the Earths energy balance began to appear in the climate science literature. With growing international concern about the pace of climate change, the scientific and public discourse on the feasibility of geoengineering has recently grown more sophisticated and more energetic. A wide array of potential geoengineering projects have been proposed. Simple estimates of costs exist, and some discussion of both the potentially negative and co-beneficial consequences of these projects can be found in the scientific literature. The critical, missing piece in the discussion of geoengineering as a strategy for managing climate is an integrated evaluation of the downstream costs-versus-benefits inter-comparing all available climate management options, including geoengineering. Our examination of the literature revealed a number of substantial gaps in the knowledge base required for such an evaluation. Therefore, to ensure that the decision framework arising from this analysis is well founded, a focused program of scientific research to fill those gaps is also essential. As with any sound engineering plan, international decisions on how to address human-induced climate warming must be founded on a thoughtful and well-informed analysis of all of the available options.