Oxford-based institute to encourage research, debate and communication about geoengineering
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
An institute focused on furthering our understanding of the possibilities of geoengineering for dealing with Climate Change has been launched at The Carbon Show, held from September 29th – 30th, 2009, in London’s ExCeL.
Scientists have already proposed a number of ‘techno-fixes’ to counteract climate change and the institute aims to look at these and other approaches in their widest context, including the technical and social issues (ethics, politics, economics, governance and legal).
“If we fail to reduce emissions, we may need to consider resorting to geoengineering to try to provide an ‘airbag’ equivalent to avoid the worst impacts of climate change” says the Institute’s Director, Tim Kruger. “There are huge issues surrounding the kind of deliberate, large-scale, intervention in the Earth’s natural systems which geoengineering approaches require. Scientists have a responsibility to assess the potential and possible pitfalls of suggested geoengineering schemes.
The Institute will be encouraging research and acting as a forum for debating the issues. It is far better to have thoroughly considered the potential techniques in advance in case we have to use them – the time to design an airbag is before you are skidding on ice.”
A recent report by the Royal Society examined the potential and the side-effects of these ideas and has recommended that a sustained programme of research should be undertaken to assess them further.
If, in the near future, the international community has failed to reduce emissions and urgent action is needed to prevent catastrophic climate change then we may have to resort to geoengineering techniques to cool the planet. It is the ambition of the Institute to have thoroughly investigated all potential geoengineering options so as to be able to advise policy makers and society which, if any, techniques are the most appropriate to apply.
The Institute is not advocating geoengineering, but rather seeking to carefully research all the implications of geoengineering approaches so as to assess their potential and the risks they carry.
The Institute has gained the backing of major academics, environmentalists and industry figures from around the world, including Professor Sir David King (former Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government and Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford), Professor Tim Flannery (Environmentalist, Macquarie University, Sydney and Australian of the Year 2007) and Sir Mark Moody-Stuart (former Chairman of Shell and former Chairman of Anglo-American), who have agreed to act on the advisory board of the Institute.
This board is international in character and covers a wide range of disciplines including ethics, economics and international law as well as natural sciences and engineering.
Commenting on the launch of the institute Professor Flannery said: “Geoengineering
is an option many would rather ignore. But the climate crisis is now so advanced
that we would be well served by carefully evaluating options”.
© 2009
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