Geoengineering in the Arctic

Workshop Description (ASSW 2024)

While the international leadership has failed so far to take action for transformative reduction in CO2 emissions, voices become stronger to advance geoengineering to cool down the planet. This could be especially important for the Arctic which is warming at almost 4 times the rate of the globe on average. Based on recent panel discussions at GESDA and Arctic Circle 2022, we feel the need to urgently address the geoengineering topic from an Arctic-specific, scientific, rightholder and stakeholder perspective, as pressure to find geoengineering solutions to the current climate crisis is intensifying. With this workshop, we propose to take stock of the current status of geoengineering methods applicable to the Arctic.

At this workshop, we discuss case studies, assess the efficiency of suggested methods to cool the Arctic, evaluate potential negative impacts and feedbacks in the Arctic system, their assessment and potential mitigation measures, and discuss ethical considerations around different geoengineering methods, as well as their governance. Importantly, involvement of Arctic residents and Indigenous Peoples in conversations and planning of potential geoengineering methods will be discussed as well.

We invite everyone with an interest in the subject and aim for participants representing science, policy, governance, local and Indigenous Peoples perspectives and other.

Results from the workshop shall be incorporated in an IASC white paper on Arctic geoengineering.

This is a workshop in the framework of the IASC activity ‘Geoengineering to save the Arctic?’, co-led by Gabriela Schaepman-Strub, Julia Schmale (AWG), João Canário (TWG), Gonçalo Vieira (CWG), Henrieka Detlef (MWG, ECR), Victoria Buschman (MWG, ECR), Rhonda Müller (ECR)

Project Description

While the international leadership has failed so far to take action for transformative reduction in CO2 emissions, voices become stronger to advance geoengineering to cool the planet. This could be especially important for the Arctic which is warming at almost 4 times the global rate. Recent panel discussions at GESDA and Arctic Circle have shown increasing pressure to find geoengineering solutions to the climate crisis, fueled by potentially large investments. We feel the need to urgently address the geoengineering topic from an Arctic-specific, scientific, rightholder and stakeholder perspective. Our proposed activity takes stock of the status of geoengineering methods and first case studies applied, assesses their efficacy to cool the Arctic, evaluates feedbacks and potential negative impacts in the Arctic system, and discusses governance and ethics around different geoengineering methods. While we will address different proposed geoengineering methods, a focus will lie on solar radiation management methods (SRM). SRM is considered to be currently the most efficacious and only scalable method to reduce global warming at large scale, while potential negative implications are still unclear. Also if implemented and then prematurely stopped, impacts could be tremendous in the Arctic, as warming could shoot up to actual CO2 levels within a very short time.

Date and Location

26 March 2024 during the ASSW2024 | Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

IASC Working Groups funding the project

Project Lead

Gabriela Schaepman-Strub (University of Zurich, EPFL, Switzerland), Julia Schmale (EPFL, Switzerland)

Year funded by IASC

2023

All Dates

26 March 2024