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research report

lnternational governance issues on climate engineering Information for policymakers

Florin, Marie-Valentine  
•
Rouse, Paul
•
Hubert, Anna-Maria
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June 17, 2020

Some climate engineering technologies are being developed to remove CO2 from the atmosphere (carbon dioxide removal, CDR), which is expected to contribute to reducing and preventing climate change. Some other technologies (solar radiation modification, SRM) would artificially cool the planet and could reduce some symptoms and risks of climate change. Meaningful steps may need to be taken soon to lay a foundation for a decision process regarding research, policy, regulation and possible use. Driven by questions and needs from the international policymaking community to better understand the potential benefits as well as opportunities, risks, uncertainties and other challenges of CDR and SRM, at both technical and governance levels, this report reviews and compares technologies and their potential contributions, costs, risks, uncertainties, before surveying the current legal and institutional landscape of governance regarding climate engineering. It then addresses trade-offs between risks and discusses possible options for international governance, including criteria for evaluating options. The need for more inclusive approaches and the pros- and cons of institutional fragmentation are emphasized. Options for sites of international governance are discussed, for various technologies, as well as general principles and specific recommendations to: distinguish between CDR and SRM as well as among CDR techniques; accelerate authoritative, comprehensive, and international scientific assessment; encourage the research, development, and responsible use of some CDR techniques; internationally build capacity for evaluating CDR and SRM; facilitate non-state governance; and explore potential further governance of SRM while remaining agnostic concerning its use.

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Type
research report
DOI
10.5075/epfl-irgc-277726
Author(s)
Florin, Marie-Valentine  
Rouse, Paul
Hubert, Anna-Maria
Honegger, Matthias
Reynolds, Jesse
Date Issued

2020-06-17

Publisher

EPFL International Risk Governance Center

Subjects

climate engineering

•

climate engineering technologies

•

carbon dioxide removal (CDR)

•

solar radiation modification (SRM)

•

international policymaking

•

lnternational governance

Note

Imprint This report was prepared under contract from the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). The contractor bears sole responsibility for the content. Commissioned by: Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), International Affairs Division, 3003 Bern, Switzerland. The FOEN is an agency of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC). Contractor: EPFL (Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne), International Risk Governance Center (IRGC) To cite this report: - Florin, M.-V. (Ed.), Rouse, P., Hubert, A-H., Honegger, M., Reynolds, J. (2020). International governance issues on climate engineering. Information for policymakers. Lausanne: EPFL International Risk Governance Center (IRGC). - Individual chapters: [name of author], ‘[title of chapter]’ in Florin, M.-V. (Ed.), International Governance of Climate Engineering. Information for policymakers (2020), Chapter [nr], Lausanne: EPFL International Risk Governance Center (IRGC).

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
IRGC  
Available on Infoscience
May 28, 2020
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/169001
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