Abstract

If the politicians fail, will the engineers come? After the debacle of the Copenhagen climate conference, large-scale climate manipulation (geoengineering) has gained enormous support. Reason enough for the Ecology Yearbook to look at this fundamental alternative to the policy of reducing emissions and adapting to climate change, which takes two approaches: influencing solar radiation and removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Using the example of cooling the Earth through sulphate injections into the stratosphere and through iron fertilisation of the sea, two prominent technology options are presented in more detail. The pro and con arguments that are in play overall in large-scale climate manipulation are carefully mapped and evaluated. As befits a yearbook, however, other current topics are also addressed: developments in law, economics and civil society that go beyond what is (still) expected of politicians and engineers.

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