How scientists advising the European Commission on research priorities view climate engineering proposals

Abstract

This study contributes to a growing body of research that studies how different societal actors view climate engineering (CE) in an effort to ‘open up’ received framings and make them amenable to deliberations. CE is an umbrella term for different proposals of how to counteract global warming with technological means, some of which have sparked controversy. Drawing on fifteen interviews, the study explores how scientists who advise the European Commission on research funding priorities regarding climate change and sustainability view CE. They considered CE as treating the symptoms rather than the causes of climate change, as interfering in complex and unpredictable natural systems, and as engendering questions of distributive justice. They also stressed the complexity of governing climate change and expressed support for basic CE research. The concluding discussion dwells on the implications of foresight, the division of labor in research governance, and the challenge of poverty for governing technologies in the service of climate action.