ABSTRACT
Climate geoengineering proposals encompass a wide range of heterogeneous technical practices, relying on diverse mechanisms, and operating in diverse media. The Royal Society’s 2009 report concluded, ‘the acceptability of geoengineering will be determined as much by social, legal and political issues as by scientific and technical factors’ and recommended ‘the development of governance frameworks to guide both the research and development … and possible deployment.’ However, the appropriate institutional arrangements for governance of these heterogeneous and immature techniques are indeterminate and contested, even at the R&D stage. Based on an ESRC-funded programme of research, the Climate Geoengineering Governance Programme led and managed by the authors, this chapter takes a broad anthropological approach to institutions to describe the institutional challenges for developing geoengineering proposals and the variety of values and interests that account for how institutions position themselves in relation to such proposals. It goes on to identify key characteristics of a potential governance framework for R&D and eventual deployment, given the range of scientific uncertainties surrounding geoengineering proposals, and the range of political cultures in which they might be deployed, or in which their climatic impacts might be felt. The chapter concludes by noting that the debate on geoengineering presents a valuable opportunity to stimulate a wider institutional discourse about key issues such as the relationships between humans and nature, and technology and society.
