Climate Engineering in Context Conference

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The Climate Engineering in Content Conference 2021 (CEC21) will be held virtually, from October 4 – 8, 2021. CEC21 invites discussion of all approaches historically aggregated under the term “climate engineering”, and additionally aims to contextualise them among other proposed responses to climate change, including mitigation, adaptation, de-growth, rewilding and ecological restoration.

The idea of deliberately intervening in the global climate system in response to climate change is increasingly being discussed in contemporary climate change research and politics. In the past, a wide range of such ideas has been subsumed under the term “climate engineering.” The proposed approaches have often historically been divided into two groups: those intended to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (Carbon Dioxide Removal: CDR) and those intended to reduce the amount of solar energy that reaches the Earth’s surface (Solar Radiation Management: SRM). As scientists and policymakers continue to evaluate these ideas, the appropriateness of the term “climate engineering” as representative of the thematic field of research encompassing all large-scale interventions into global systems, has been debated. This runs parallel to discussions about the relationship between large-scale climate intervention, conventional strategies for addressing climate change, and sustainable development. At this important juncture in the debate, CEC21 will provide the opportunity to take stock of what these developments mean for the future of “climate engineering” as a response to climate change in the context of other large-scale interventions into global systems.