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
- Atmosphere WG
- Cryosphere WG
- Marine WG
- Social & Human WG
- Terrestrial WG
Project Lead
Gabriela Schaepman-Strub (University of Zurich, EPFL, Switzerland), Julia Schmale (EPFL, Switzerland)
Year funded by IASC
2023