Engineering and Governing the Climate

Xavier Landes is an associate professor at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga. In addition, he has held positions at Université de Montréal, University of Toronto, and Copenhagen University. Landes's areas of expertise are political and moral philosophy. He has published on various topics such as multiculturalism, the welfare state, public insurance, and happiness. Climate change and climate alteration constitute his current focuses of research and teaching.

I learned a great deal from reading this groundbreaking book. Geoengineering has been something of a taboo subject among environmentalists for many years, based on the desire to avoid distracting attention away from carbon abatement, which remains the first-best response to the problem of climate change. Considering the current warming trajectory, however, it seems inevitable that we will at some point need to take second-best options more seriously. Landes provides an invaluable guide to this emerging set of issues, describing the technological options and the normative concerns they raise with exemplary clarity.

• AcknowledgementsAbbreviations and AcronymsIntroduction: Climate Change and Alteration in the AnthropoceneHow Accurate is Geoengineering Denomination?Intensifying Climate ConcernsWould Climate Engineering Announce a New Era?Anthropocene ControversiesThe Onset of the Anthropogenic InfluenceMitigation, Adaptation, and Climate EngineeringRationale and Structure of the BookChapter 1: What is Climate Engineering?DeliberateLarge-ScaleCountering Anthropogenic Climate ChangeIs Climate Engineering Reducible to Conventional Climate Policy?CDR and MitigationSRM and AdaptationChapter 2: An Evaluative FrameworkHow to Evaluate Climate Engineering?FeasibilityTechnological MaturityScalabilityEfficiencyPermissibilityIntrinsic Moral ValueRisks and UncertaintyDistributive JusticeProcedural JusticeSocial AcceptabilityIntergenerational JusticeRegulation and GovernancePreferabilityComplicating FactorsA Glimpse into Comparative PrinciplesTechnological Difference and Moral Non-EquivalenceChapter 3: Climate Engineering Methods I: Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR)What is CDR?Land-Based Carbon Sinks EnhancementLand Management and Ecosystem RestorationLand SequestrationLand Enhanced WeatheringOcean-Based Carbon Sinks EnhancementOcean Enhanced WeatheringOcean PumpsMacroalgae CultivationFully Engineered Carbon SinksCarbon Capture and Storage/Sequestration (CCS)Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage/Sequestration (BECCS)Direct Air Capture and Storage/Sequestration (DACS)CDR: A General AssessmentFeasibilityPermissibilityPreferabilityChapter 4: Climate Engineering Methods II: Solar Radiation Management (SRM)What is SRM?Surface Albedo ModificationUrban Surface Brightening (USB)Crop AlbedoTropospheric InterventionsMarine Cloud Brightening (MCB)Cirrus Cloud Thinning (CCT)Stratospheric InterventionsSpace-Based InterventionsSRM: A General AssessmentFeasibilityPermissibilityPreferabilityChapter 5: Engineering the Climate: Arguments and ObjectionsMitigation Gap and NecessityThe Distinction Between Research and DeploymentReasons for the Distinction (and in Support of Research)Reasons Against the Distinction (and Research)Governing ResearchJustifications for Climate EngineeringObjections to Climate EngineeringEfficiency ObjectionsPrecautionary ObjectionsCapture ObjectionsPolitical ObjectionsMoral CorruptionConclusionBibliographyAbout the Author