Could lessons from medical research ethics inform better conversations and governance for climate engineering research

Large scale engineering interventions in the climate system—ranging from the injection of reflective particles into the stratosphere, to the artificial creation of Arctic sea ice—are controversial. And for good reasons: one concern is that climate engineering research could divert energy and resources away from tackling the underlying problem of excess levels of greenhouse gasses, and even be used as a diversion to prolong the status quo and fossil fuel economy 1 ; another that even if billed as purely exploratory, research pathways might place us on a ‘slippery slope’ that will make eventual deployment far more likely 2 ; a third, that climate engineering could be ungovernable, or that states or militaries could securitize such technologies; and then there are also concerns research will reflect the interests of already invested rich industrialised countries 3 .