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Continued failure to limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are causing global climate change has brought increased attention to climate engineering (CE) technologies, which actively modify the global environment to counteract heating and climate disruptions caused by elevated greenhouse gases. Some proposed forms of CE, particularly spraying reflective particles in the upper atmosphere to reduce incoming sunlight, can cool the average temperature of the Earth rapidly and cheaply, thereby substantially reducing climate-related risks. Yet CE interventions provide only imperfect corrections for the climatic and other environmental effects of elevated greenhouse gases, and carry their own environmental risks. Moreover, they may also increase risks, by weakening political support for essential emission reductions or providing new triggers for international conflict. These technologies thus require international governance, but also pose novel and severe challenges to current international laws and institutions. Effective governance of CE will require a capacity to make decisions regarding the conditions, if any, under which specific interventions are authorized, plus real-time operational oversight of any interventions that are conducted. Decision processes must be effectively linked with scientific research and assessment, and with institutions to manage and respond to threats of CE-related conflict. We advance preliminary suggestions to address two priority areas for early investigation: how international cooperation on early CE research can help develop shared norms that can grow robust enough to support future decision needs; and how early research and development on CE can be made to complement and encourage, rather than undermining, parallel efforts to reduce climate risks by cutting emissions.

This third edition has been comprehensively updated to reflect the large changes in scientific knowledge and policy debates on climate change since the previous edition in 2009. It provides a concise but thorough overview of the science, technology, economics, policy, and politics of climate change in a single volume. It explains how scientific and policy debates work, outlines the scientific evidence for the reality and seriousness of climate change and the basic atmospheric science that supports it, and discusses policy options and the current state of the policy debate. By pulling these elements together, the book explains why the issue can be so confusing and provides guidance on practical routes forward. Anyone interested in climate change, the global environment, or how science is used in policy debates should read this book. It is the ideal textbook for undergraduate or graduate courses in environmental policy and climate change.

Proposed geoengineering interventions, like other high-stakes and potentially disruptive technologies, present both a compelling case for expanded research to inform future decisions, and significant concerns about societal harms that may follow from this research, directly or indirectly. In response, there have been widespread calls to both expand research and govern this research with greater care and scrutiny than typical of the normal processes that govern all research areas. We propose that for geoengineering and similarly controversial issues, governance of research must fulfill three broad functions. First, processes are needed that enable reliable research, by providing the authorization, resources, and management necessary for research to proceed, together with the strategic planning and quality controls to ensure that research results are useful and relevant to inform societal choices. Second, processes are needed to assess potential harms or risks from research activities and ensure that these are appropriately managed. These potential harms may include both direct physical risks, and indirect risks mediated by social, economic, or political processes. Finally, processes are needed to support the legitimacy of the research program, by ensuring that the topics, methods, and conduct are compatible with relevant legal, political, and moral principles and are broadly acceptable to affected citizens. These requirements may interact closely with the processes that serve the first two functions, by requiring that research priorities, aims, conduct, participants, and results are transparently and promptly disclosed, that relevant citizen and stakeholder groups are consulted, and that broader implications of proposed research are acknowledged and addressed. Drawing on the concerns expressed in the current geoengineering debate, and on experience conducting and governing research in other areas, we discuss alternative concrete ways to provide these functions for geoengineering research. This paper was prepared as input to a workshop of senior state officials considering the implications of potential geoengineering research for California.