AGU publishes ethical framework for geoengineering

The American Geophysical Union (AGU), a professional organization for earth and space scientists, has published an ethical framework that it says can “aid new research considerations, funding decisions, and policy proposals for addressing the rapidly growing field of climate intervention research.”

The framework provides guidance for ensuring responsible and transparent research on climate intervention—also called geoengineering—that centers climate justice. It also states that, prior to commencement, geoengineering research plans should be reviewed and approved by an independent body, similar to how institutional review boards are charged with reviewing research involving human participants in the US.

The goal is to define “what best practices would look like,” says AGU president Lisa Graumlich. “What does it mean for us to start down the road and have some clear lines where, if some of the principles were violated, things slowed down?”

The ethical principles were developed over 2 years under the guidance of an advisory board of 40 experts from disciplines ranging from ethics to economics. The principles were narrowed down through public comment and consultation with research groups, government agencies, and nongovernmental organizations.

Graumlich and other AGU leaders decided to create the framework after noticing that scientists were researching carbon dioxide removal and solar radiation management at an accelerating rate. The leaders were also aware that “there were many, many opinions about what role climate intervention could or should play” when it comes to meeting the Paris Agreement goals for limiting Earth’s temperature increase, Graumlich says.

“We realized that if anybody was going to be able to have the ability to, on behalf of this community, convene all the different perspectives that should be around the room and come up with an ethical framework, it had to be AGU,” Graumlich says.

She emphasizes that the framework’s five principles aren’t set in stone. “We want to make sure that, first of all, it’s a living document,” she says. The advisory board will continue to revise the framework, and it invites feedback from the public, she adds.

Despite the creation of the framework, Graumlich makes one thing clear: “There is no substitute for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. There is no substitute.”