Background of the dialogue

As the recent Royal Society report on geoengineering states, the best way to tackle climate change is by cutting emissions of greenhouse gases. However, the report notes that

"Unless future efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are much more successful than they have been so far, additional action may be required should it become necessary to cool the Earth this century."

Therefore we need to research different potential geoengineering options and their environmental, social and regulatory implications.

Through a series of workshops with members of the public and an online survey, NERC will explore people's attitudes towards various potential geoengineering methods. At the workshops, participants will come together to discuss the ethical, moral and social issues associated with the possible use of geoengineering methods to alter our environment. The workshops will also be supported by public debates and events around the UK.

The findings will be used to help NERC inform their decisions around future funding of research into geoengineering.

The Royal Society report – Geoengineering the Climate (September 2009) is available as pdf from: http://royalsociety.org/geoengineeringclimate

Objectives

Our objectives for this public dialogue are to:


For this online survey, our objective is to:


Sources