Headline:
Rescue plan or global risk? Seven questions on climate engineering
As part of the annual conference of the CLUB OF ROME schools network, climate researcher Professor Mojib Latif (Deutsche Gesellschaft Club of Rome and IfM GEOMAR) and physicist Dr Thomas Bruhn (Think Tank 30 and IASS Potsdam) presented seven critical key questions about climate engineering (CE). The paper was jointly prepared by the Deutsche Gesellschaft CLUB OF ROME and the Think Tank 30.
CE or geo-engineering describes a variety of technical proposals to intervene in the earth-system in order to counter-act global warming. However, the precise effects and impacts, as well as the inherent risks and uncertainties, are still insufficiently understood. “Climate engineering assumes that we know how the complex earth system will react. I consider this assumption to be presumptuous. It’s possible that we are opening Pandora’s Box if we intervene on a large scale in the climate system – as we can already see with the climate change that is already beginning,” says Professor Mojib Latif.
Besides the issue as to how CE would impact on the earth system, the consequences for humanity are also being focussed on: “Similarly as with climate change, there would also always be winners and losers with such global interventions in the climate. Therefore, one of the key questions for us is whether and how climate engineering is compatible with the concept of global justice,” explains Dr Thomas Bruhn.
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