SPP 1689:  Climate Engineering: Risks, Challenges, Opportunities?

The term climate engineering (CE) specifically describes large-scale technical methods that can be used to reduce the concentration of CO2 in the atmospheric or to reduce incoming solar radiation. CE is discussed against a background of unabated (despite efforts to reduce CO2 emissions), rising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases as a third option to counteract anthropogenic climate change. However, there is no reliable information about the effectiveness, risks and side effects of the different methods to be able to do a comprehensive assessment on CE. The aim of the interdisciplinary Priority Programme is to get a sustainable assessment on CE. This assessment will consider technical, scientific, social, political, legal and ethical dimensions that examine both the short- and long-term, and the regional and global aspects of CE. Due to the multidimensionality of the problem the spectrum of participating disciplines in the Priority Programme is - internationally unique - very broad. With the Priority Programme the potential effectiveness, uncertainties, and challenges of CE are investigated and assessed. The legal, moral and public acceptability of CE is evaluated. Three CE methods are examined exemplarily, which have been chosen to examine a wide range of methodological scales and characteristics: (1) injection of aerosols into the troposphere or stratosphere, (2) increasing ocean alkalinity, and (3) afforestation. Taking into account the various societal and ecological facets of the exemplary CE-methods the uncertainties that are connected with CE can be reduced and the basis for a sustainable and responsible assessment of CE is enabled. Field experiments or research for CE-development is not conducted in the Priority Programme. The assessment will to a large extent be based on simulations with Earth systems models, the uncertainties of which will have to be taken specifically into account.

DFG Programme Priority Programmes

International Connection Austria, France, Switzerland, United Kingdom, USA

• Arguing about Climate Engineering: Towards a Comprehensive Ethical Analysis of an Ongoing Debate (Applicants Betz, Gregor ;  Ott, Konrad ;  Visbeck, Martin )
• Carbon Dioxide Removal Model Intercomparison Assessment (CDR-MIA) (Applicants Bauer, Ph.D., Nico ;  Keller, Ph.D., David )
• Climate Engineering by Arctic Winter Cirrus Thinning: Risks and Feasibility (AWiCiT) (Applicants Leisner, Thomas ;  Vogel, Bernhard )
• Climate Engineering Liability and Reliability: An Integrated Treatment (CELARIT) (Applicants Carrier, Martin ;  Goeschl, Ph.D., Timo ;  Proelß, Alexander ;  Schmidt, Hauke )
• Climate Engineering on Land: Comprehensive evaluation of Earth system impacts of terrestrial carbon dioxide removal (CE-LAND+) (Applicants Gerten, Dieter ;  Pongratz, Julia )
• Comparative assessment of potential impacts, side-effects and uncertainties of CE measures and emission-reduction efforts (ComparCE-2) (Applicants Ilyina, Tatiana ;  Oschlies, Andreas ;  Pongratz, Julia )
• Contextualizing Climate Engineering and Mitigation: Illusion, Complement, or Substitute? (CEMICS) (Applicants Edenhofer, Ottmar ;  Hartmann, Ph.D., Jens ;  Held, Hermann ;  Kriegler, Elmar ;  Schäfer, Stefan ;  Stelzer, Harald )
• Coordination of SPP 1689 (Applicant Oschlies, Andreas )
• Fingerprints analysis of extreme events caused by stratospheric sulfur injections (FASSI) (Applicant Cubasch, Ulrich )
• LEarning About Cloud modification under risk and uncertainty: Investigation of feasibility, traceability, Incentives and de-centralised governance of limited-area climate mitigation (LEAC - II) (Applicants Quaas, Johannes ;  Quaas, Martin F. )
• Limitations of Climate Engineering Efficacy by different types of RADiation MANagement (Applicants Leisner, Thomas ;  Platt, Ulrich )
• Responsible Research and Governance at the Science-Policy Nexus of Climate Change: New Discourses, Epistemic Communities and Climate Policy Regimes through Climate Engineering? (Applicants Barben, Daniel ;  Beck, Silke )
• Stratospheric Ozone Loss in Mid-latitudes in Summer - a Potential Risk of Climate Engineering? (CE-O3) (Applicant Vogel, Bärbel )
• Trade-offs between mitigation and climate engineering: an interdisciplinary approach (TOMACE) (Applicants Ernst, Andreas ;  Ott, Konrad ;  Rehdanz, Katrin )

Spokesperson Professor Dr. Andreas Oschlies

Participating Persons Professor Dr. Christian Ammer; Professor Dr. Daniel Barben; Professor Dr. Thomas Berger; Professor Dr. Gregor Betz; Professor Dr. Ulrich Beyerlin (†); Professor Dr. Michael Brzoska; Professor Dr. Martin Carrier; Professor Dr. Ulrich Cubasch; Professor Dr. Hans-Liudger Dienel; Professor Dr. Ottmar Edenhofer; Professor Dr. Dieter Gerten; Professor Timo Goeschl, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Sebastian Harnisch; Professor Jens Hartmann, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Hermann Held; Professorin Dr. Tatiana Ilyina; Professorin Dr. Nina Janich; Professor Dr. Florian Gabriel Kaiser; Professor Dr. Christoph Kleinn; Professor Dr. Gernot Klepper; Dr. Daniela Kracher; Professor Dr. Elmar Kriegler; Professor Dr. Yakov Kuzyakov; Dr. Peter Köhler; Professor Dr. Mark G. Lawrence; Professor Dr. Markus Lederer; Professor Dr. Thomas Leisner; Professor Dr. Wolfgang Lucht; Professor Dr. Wolfram Mauser; Professorin Dr. Annette Menzel; Professor Dr. Dirk Messner; Professor Dr. Joachim Müller; Professor Dr. Alfred Nordmann; Professor Dr. Konrad Ott; Professor Dr. Siegmar Otto; Professor Dr. Ulrich Platt; Professorin Dr. Julia Pongratz; Professor Dr. Alexander Proelß; Professor Dr. Martin F. Quaas; Professor Dr. Johannes Quaas; Professor Dr. Stefan Rahmstorf; Professor Dr. Ortwin Renn; Professor Dr. Jürgen Scheffran; Professor Dr. Gerrit Jasper Schenk; Professorin Dr. Sabine Schlacke; Dr. Hauke Schmidt; Professorin Dr. Miranda A. Schreurs; Professor Dr. Heinz-Friedrich Schöler; Professor Dr. Martin Visbeck; Dr. Bernhard Vogel; Professor Dr. Volker Wulfmeyer