Climate System Governance is emerging as a critical public policy issue in the coming decades. Already become a hot topic under the heading of geoengineering –referring to a variety of methods to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere – we believe such approaches should not be embraced or rejected out of hand, but need to be considered within a larger perspective on the co-evolution of humanity and the biosphere. This trans-disciplinary subject embraces issues relating a wide range of disciplines including governance, business, economy, environment, technology, law and human rights.
The Academy conducted a symposium on Climate System Management in Palo Alto, California on July 30, 2009, which included presentations by three eminent experts on geoengineering followed by discussion. Speakers included Ken Caldeira, Chair, US National Academy of Science inquiry into geoengineering; Prof. Granger Morgan, Carnegie Mellon University (and chair of a recent international conference on risk management and geoengineering; and Jason Blackstock, Senior Analyst, International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (Vienna).
Organizer: Bob Berg & Walter Anderson
Participants: Jeffrey H. Schwartz, José Ireneu dos Remedios Furtado, John Cox, Daniel Coates, Geoffrey Hamer, Garry Jacobs, Ivo Slaus, Guy Stevens, Alberto Zucconi, Raoul Weiler.
Report of the Symposium on Governance of Geo-engineering
Scientific issues by Prof. Kenneth Caldeira
General governance issues by Prof. Granger Morgan
Governance of geoengineering by Dr. Jason Blackstock
Report on Survey of WAAS Fellows on Climate System Management