Climate Engineering: The Forbidden Fruit of Climate Policy

When the IPCC report on the impact of global warming was published a few months ago, one method to combat temperature rise was conspicuously absent: climate engineering. Geoengineering or climate engineering includes any form of human intervention in the Earth’s natural systems to counteract global warming and there’s several methods that have been researched and are, in theory, very effective. Technologies such as the brightening of clouds to enhance sunlight reflection, growing algae to store CO2 and injecting aerosols in the stratosphere to cool down the earth are all on the table. Sounds promising?

Promising enough to have sparked quite the field of research for it. But a discussion of climate engineering did not make it to any of the scenarios discussed in the IPCC report. It has become a somewhat forbidden fruit – a last resort that should ideally remain untouched as the technologies are feared to offer an easy way out for policymakers and will only burden next generations with an even bigger problem.

Of course, forbidden fruits should be talked about! That is why we will be discussing the prospects, promises and risks of climate engineering with Herman Russchenberg, climate scientist and director of the TU Delft climate institute.