Climate Engineering: What is It? Benefits, Ethical Issues, and Challenges

Context:  This article is based on the news “Must assess ethical, social and cultural risks of climate engineering along with climate action: UNESCO report” Which was published in the DTE. UNESCO’s World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST) has published its first-ever report on the Ethics of Climate Engineering. 

What are the key highlights of the UNESCO report on the ethics of climate engineering?

• UNESCO’s Report: The report on the Ethics of Climate Engineering was published before the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• UNEP’s Report: Climate engineering has gained traction after the Emissions Gap Report warned the world would breach the warming mark of 2 degrees Celsius over the preindustrial era, even if the existing nationally determined contributions are delivered by 2030.

What is Climate Engineering?

• Climate Engineering: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its 5th Assessment Report, defined climate engineering as a broad set of methods and technologies that aim to deliberately alter the climate system to alleviate the impacts of climate change.
• Techniques: It is classified into two types (See Image). 
  • Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) which removes and stores the emitted carbon dioxide(CO2) from the atmosphere. CDR methods act very slowly and they are in principle reversible.
  • Solar Radiation Modification (SRM) reflects sunlight into space. Some SRM techniques could act quickly but they are probably difficult to reverse.

Also Read: World Climate Action Summit – COP28

What are the potential benefits of Climate Engineering?

• Rapid Response to Climate Change: These techniques aim to directly cool the Earth by reflecting sunlight away from the planet or removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
• Global Temperature Regulation: To complement mitigation and adaptation strategies, climate engineering could help regulate global temperatures and reduce the severity of heatwaves, extreme weather events, and sea level rise.
• Emergency Situations: In scenarios where the impacts of climate change become catastrophic and there is an urgent need to cool the planet quickly, certain forms of climate engineering might be considered as emergency measures.
• Addressing Specific Climate Threats: These techniques could be targeted to address specific climate threats, such as protecting vulnerable ecosystems or mitigating the impact of certain extreme weather events.
• Research and Learning: Conducting research on climate engineering can help scientists better understand the potential consequences, limitations, and risks associated with large-scale interventions.

What ethical issues and challenges are associated with climate engineering?

• Choosing Lesser Evil: Although there would be an opportunity cost for not adopting climate engineering, exploring these options is to defend the moral justifiability of doing ‘lesser evil’.  
  • Climate engineering involves risks and we need to choose from different natures and levels of risks. For instance, SRM poses much more serious risks than CDR. 
• Justice Issues: The unintended and unequal impact of climate engineering raises several justice issues, including intergenerational, distributive, procedural, and regional justice. 
  • Even when human beings as a whole would benefit from the successful deployment of these techniques, it would be impossible to equally distribute risks and undesirable side effects across different regions of the world. For example, manipulating climate using SRM can lead to extreme weather events including flood, droughts, and windstorms
• Slippery Slope: Climate engineering research could create a ‘slippery slope’ facilitating the acceleration toward eventual deployment of potentially risky technologies. 
  • A slippery slope relates to a certain action that could lead to a chain of events with a relatively extreme result.
• Moral Hazard: The climate engineering strategies share a ‘moral hazard’ that their use and resultant potential cooling effect could provide stakeholders with an excuse to slow the pace of reducing CO2 emissions or to continue using fossil fuels at current or even accelerated rates. 
  • Moral hazard concerns relate to situations in which there is a lack of urgency to act in the face of risk on the side of some persons who are not directly impacted by the risk at issue. 
• Organised Irresponsibility: Responsibility for the creation and resolution of environmental risks belongs to several institutions and systems viz. governments, industries, experts legal system, etc., but no institution seems to be specifically responsible. 
  • The systemic interdependence of all the institutions and systems is a labyrinth of simultaneous liability and unaccountability.
• Commodification of Nature: The ethical dilemma here is whether there should be markets for environmental goods. One view deems it unethical to trade nature whereas another assumes that markets can serve as an important mechanism for addressing environmental problems.
  • Climate has already made its way into the financial markets and stock exchanges, for example, the international carbon trading system. 

Way Forward:

•  Governance: Decisions on climate engineering techniques should be taken according to an ecosystem-flourishing approach and intergenerational and distributive justice considerations. 
  • For example, considering the scientific knowledge, specificity of technology under consideration, and the degree of uncertainty in the likely outcome of the implementation, etc.
• Participation and Inclusiveness: In addition to states’ efforts at a national level, a multilevel, polycentric, participatory approach from international cooperation down to regional activities within local communities should be encouraged for all climate actions including climate engineering. 
  • States must ensure that vulnerable, neglected, and marginalized individuals and groups, women, youth, and indigenous people are included as key stakeholders in the development and implementation of policies, decisions, and activities. 
• Role of Scientific Knowledge and Research: Scientific research on climate action including climate engineering, should be free from unjustified interference by political or economic interests and have the aim to reduce the uncertainties and risks of the different technologies. 
  • Further, attention must be paid to potential conflicts of interest, transparency and accountability, cultural implications, etc.
• Strengthening Capacity: States should strengthen their institutional, technological, and ethical capacities as regards climate action including climate engineering, and support their public and civic capacity-building activities. 
  • Business and Industry Should: Act ethically, follow relevant international standards, and closely collaborate with public sectors including local governments and appropriate international organizations.
• Education, Awareness, and Advocacy: International organisations, state governments, civil societies, etc. should play a prominent role in increasing public understanding and awareness of the ethical challenges associated with climate actions including climate engineering, the importance of scientific and practical uncertainties, and the need for democratic participation and decision-making.

Conclusion

The ethical dimensions of climate engineering, as outlined by the UNESCO report, necessitates a careful balance between addressing the urgent challenges of climate change and safeguarding against potential risks, emphasising the importance of inclusive governance, scientific integrity, and ethical considerations in shaping the trajectory of climate action.