ABSTRACT

The context in which the Oxford Principles (OPs) were drafted was shortly after the Royal Society published its report Geoengineering the Climate, just prior to the UNFCCC COP in 2009 at Copenhagen. With tremendous expectations heaped upon the COP, some commentators were openly hostile to even discussing geoengineering. The cross-party committee of MPs would proceed to use the framework of the OPs in their questioning of those who gave oral evidence to the inquiry in early 2010. A line of discussion in the oral evidence to the HoC S&T Committee raised the concern that this principle was about excluding the private sector – in response, the authors of the OPs submitted a supplementary submission specifically addressing this concernA line of discussion in the oral evidence to the HoC S&T Committee raised the concern that this principle was about excluding the private sector – in response, the authors of the OPs submitted a supplementary submission specifically addressing this concern.