A call for better governance of climate engineering technologies

In a study for the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment EPFL's International Risk Governance Center (IRGC) has brought together a group of global experts to point the way forward for international policymakers grappling with the risks and benefits posed by Carbon Dioxide Removal and Solar Radiation Modification. Anthropogenic climate change poses severe risks to people and ecosystems, especially the most already-vulnerable among them. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicates in its latest reports that, in order to comply with the global warming goals provided for by the Paris Agreement (limit the increase in the global average temperature to well under 2°C above pre-industrial levels), there is a need to reach global net-zero CO2 emissions in the second half of this century, and carbon removal will be needed. 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 (grouped under the term of solar radiation modification, SRM) would artificially cool the planet and could reduce some symptoms and consequences 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. On June 18, EPFL International Risk Governance Center (IRGC) released "International Governance Issues on Climate Engineering", a study conducted for the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN).