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Ethics and geoengineering: reviewing the moral issues raised by solar radiation management and carbon dioxide removal

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  • Christopher J. Preston

Abstract

After two decades of failure by the international community to respond adequately to the threat of global climate change, discussions of the possibility of geoengineering a cooler climate have recently proliferated. Alongside the considerable optimism that these technologies have generated, there has also been wide acknowledgement of significant ethical concerns. Ethicists, social scientists, and experts in governance have begun the work of addressing these concerns. The plethora of ethical issues raised by geoengineering creates challenges for those who wish to survey them. The issues are here separated out according to the temporal spaces in which they first arise. Some crop up when merely contemplating the prospect of geoengineering. Others appear as research gets underway. Another set of issues attend the actual implementation of the technologies. A further set occurs when planning for the cessation of climate engineering. Two cautions about this organizational schema are in order. First, even if the issues first arise in the temporal spaces identified, they do not stay completely contained within them. A good reason to object to the prospect of geoengineering, for example, will likely remain a good reason to object to its implementation. Second, the ethical concerns intensify or weaken depending on the technology under consideration. The wide range of geoengineering technologies currently being discussed makes it prudent that each technique should be evaluated individually for its ethical merit. WIREs Clim Change 2013, 4:23–37. doi: 10.1002/wcc.198 This article is categorized under: Climate, Nature, and Ethics > Ethics and Climate Change

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  • Christopher J. Preston, 2013. "Ethics and geoengineering: reviewing the moral issues raised by solar radiation management and carbon dioxide removal," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 4(1), pages 23-37, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:wirecc:v:4:y:2013:i:1:p:23-37
    DOI: 10.1002/wcc.198
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    Cited by:

    1. Khara D. Grieger & Tyler Felgenhauer & Ortwin Renn & Jonathan Wiener & Mark Borsuk, 2019. "Emerging risk governance for stratospheric aerosol injection as a climate management technology," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 371-382, December.
    2. Wim Carton & Adeniyi Asiyanbi & Silke Beck & Holly J. Buck & Jens F. Lund, 2020. "Negative emissions and the long history of carbon removal," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(6), November.
    3. Laurie Waller & Tim Rayner & Jason Chilvers & Clair Amanda Gough & Irene Lorenzoni & Andrew Jordan & Naomi Vaughan, 2020. "Contested framings of greenhouse gas removal and its feasibility: Social and political dimensions," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(4), July.
    4. Forrest Clingerman, 2022. "Thinking negatively about negative emissions technologies: the via negativa, carbon thinking, and climate ethics," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 12(3), pages 466-474, September.
    5. Dipu, Sudhakar & Quaas, Johannes & Quaas, Martin & Rickels, Wilfried & Mülmenstädt, Johannes & Boucher, Olivier, 2021. "Substantial Climate Response outside the Target Area in an Idealized Experiment of Regional Radiation Management," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 240193, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    6. Damian J. Bridge, 2022. "The ethics of climate change: a systematic literature review," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(2), pages 2651-2665, June.
    7. Jutta Wieding & Jessica Stubenrauch & Felix Ekardt, 2020. "Human Rights and Precautionary Principle: Limits to Geoengineering, SRM, and IPCC Scenarios," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-23, October.
    8. Alexandre Tisserant & Francesco Cherubini, 2019. "Potentials, Limitations, Co-Benefits, and Trade-Offs of Biochar Applications to Soils for Climate Change Mitigation," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-34, November.

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