ABSTRACT
Conflicts over climate engineering research have grown increasingly heated in recent years. While some claim that more research is urgently needed to properly inform decision-making on the matter, others warn of the many risks this research might have. The chapter argues that these conflicts are rooted in a poor conceptualization of how science informs policy-making and shapes society at large. Drawing together insights from STS with the longer history of climate engineering proposals, the text questions the common emphasis on reducing uncertainties and settling technical matters of fact as the main benefit of climate engineering research. Instead, the chapter mobilizes an understanding of science in society that highlights science’s capacity to inform collective societal sense-making.
