As the world grapples with the urgent need to address climate change, UNESCO's World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology has released a groundbreaking report on the ethics of climate engineering. The report, published ahead of the upcoming COP28 conference, provides a comprehensive global ethical perspective on climate engineering technologies and offers specific recommendations for their potential use.
Climate engineering, also known as geoengineering, has gained attention as a potential solution to mitigate the effects of climate change. These technologies fall into two main categories: Carbon Dioxide Removal, which involves drawing carbon out of the atmosphere through methods such as industrial-scale carbon removal infrastructure or planting trees, and Solar Radiation Modification, which aims to reflect sunlight back into space through techniques like injecting aerosols into the stratosphere or painting roofs in light colors.
While climate engineering holds immense promise, the report raises concerns about the significant risks associated with these large-scale interventions in the Earth's natural systems. One major concern is that the development and deployment of these technologies could undermine existing climate policies and divert funding from crucial emission reduction and adaptation efforts. The high cost of these tools could also exacerbate global inequalities between countries of different economic weight, particularly in terms of the distribution of risks.
The report also highlights the potential for military or geo-political use of geoengineering tools, emphasizing the need for strengthened global governance efforts. Given the current knowledge gaps, the experts caution that these techniques cannot yet be relied upon to significantly contribute to meeting climate targets. The consequences of these interventions on the climate, such as initiating chain reactions with considerable risks to humans, oceans, global temperatures, and biodiversity, cannot be fully anticipated due to a lack of perspective and experience.
To address these concerns, the report makes several recommendations for researching and governing climate engineering. It emphasizes that states have a legal obligation to prevent harm and must introduce legislation to regulate these new forms of climate action. Scientific research on climate engineering must adhere to clearly ethical standards consistent with international law, and countries must consider the transboundary impact of their climate engineering decisions.
The governance challenge of implementing climate engineering techniques worldwide requires open and responsible collaboration between all countries, as well as constant monitoring. The report also stresses the importance of fully considering and involving marginalized communities on the frontline of climate disruption and those most likely to be impacted by climate engineering policies.
UNESCO will share this report and its conclusions with its 194 Member States to ensure that this major issue is taken into account in the intergovernmental discussions during COP28. Gabriela Ramos, UNESCO Assistant-Director General for Social and Human Sciences, emphasizes that while all options should be considered in the face of the environmental emergency, the deployment of climate engineering should not come at the expense of commitments made under the Paris Agreement and must be accompanied by a clearly established ethical framework.
Emma Ruttkamp-Bloem, Chair of UNESCO's World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology, underscores the potential risks associated with climate engineering, both in its interactions with the climate and in its potential for exacerbating existing risks and introducing new ones. She stresses the importance of fully understanding the effects and ethical implications of these technologies before pursuing them, and emphasizes that any debate on climate engineering must be both an ethical and a political one, reflecting the conflicting interests between different regions and communities.
