Seminar leader: Ben Orlove
Reading Summaries
Engaging the Global South on climate engineering research (2015,) Winickoff, Flegal and Asrat
The Global South is relatively under-represented in public deliberations about solar radiation management (SRM), a controversial climate engineering concept. This Perspective analyses the outputs of a deliberative exercise about SRM, which took place at the University of California-Berkeley and involved 45 mid-career environmental leaders, 39 of whom were from the Global South. This analysis identifies and discusses four themes from the Berkeley workshop that might inform research and governance in this arena: (1) the ‘moral hazard’ problem should be reframed to emphasize ‘moral responsibility’; (2) climate models of SRM deployment may not be credible as primary inputs to policy because they cannot sufficiently address local concerns such as access to water; (3) small outdoor experiments require some form of international public accountability; and (4) inclusion of actors from the Global South will strengthen both SRM research and governance.
Identifying the policy space for climate loss and damage (2016), Mechler and Schinko
One important decision in the Paris Agreement was the endorsement of the Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) for Loss and Damage (L&D), establishing that L&D is distinct from impact, as losses are irreversible. The WIM does not, however, include a system for liability and compensation in the event of L&D. Prior assessments of climate change effects revolved around tracking global warming-induced impacts to identify anthropogenic interference. There has been a recent shift towards a new perspective, which assesses risk as determined by both climate variability and climate change, to support scalable climate risk management (CRM). CRM uses risk tolerance levels, though it is important to note that risk tolerance is socially constructed and determined. The authors call attention to an overlooked aspect, which is climate justice, and emphasize the need for burden-sharing between developed and vulnerable countries. They visualize an application of the CRM framework to small island states, to assess risk levels, adaptation strategies, and future risk. This supports the authors’ claim that as climate change risk increases, so too will the need to pay attention to L&D. Finally, they draw attention to other actions that can be taken to address climate risk, such as insurance.