Climate Justice and Geoengineering

This new volume makes interesting reading as a follow-up to my review of Experiment Earth in Issue 123 (p. 53-54). It also cites the 2006 paper by Paul Crutzen and the significance of the 2009 report issued by the Royal Society. Once again, all the papers are written as if nothing is actually going on in terms of implementation, as amply documented on the Geoengineering Watch website. Many of the papers call for further research, but with every year that passes without significant action on carbon emissions, the prospect of geo-engineering through solar radiation management (SRM) through stratospheric sulphate injection (SSI) looms larger, in addition to adaptation, mitigation and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) as part of a larger strategy. As I pointed out in my earlier review, much of the thinking and even the term geo-engineering reflects a linear approach rather than one incorporating complex and unpredictable feedback loops. In addition, there are significant dangers once this process is adopted on a large scale, as cessation would involve significant temperature increases.

Geo-engineering represents a ratcheting up of human intervention in nature, which the essay by Duncan McLaren illuminates with his distinction between the three approaches of Prometheans relying on free market mechanisms, eco-modernists with reformist approaches and green radicals whose attitude is precautionary and much more ethically grounded. This is important, as the title of the book refers to justice and the subtitle is 'ethics and policy in the atmospheric Anthropocene' - a term coined by Paul Crutzen. The editor points out that any solution to the climate change problem is going to be non-ideal from an ethical perspective, which provides the overall framework to the book in considering climate engineering in relation to other available options. The Royal Society report referred to geo-engineering as a Plan B, but further reflection puts it far further down the list and distinguishes between tools and plans. An important theme is the relative impact of climate change, also in relation to food and water security. In this respect, it is astonishing that there is no reference to population growth, even in Africa, where this is set to double by 2050. Having said this, the volume is still an important contribution to reflecting on the ethical and policy dimensions of the geo-engineering option.