2023-08-03 01:17:51
MONTREAL — In a few weeks, a group of influential people who include former heads of state will present in New York, before the opening of the United Nations Assembly, a series of recommendations concerning solar geoengineering. The idea behind this controversial concept is to block the sun’s rays, to cool the Earth.
Last February, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, billionaire George Soros gave a speech at the Technical University of Munich in which he defended the project of the English scientist David King, who proposes to inject droplets of sea water into the atmosphere, thanks to a fleet of 500 ships, in order to create salty artificial clouds above the Arctic.
The objective is to block the sun’s rays, and thus slow down the warming of this continent.
Another solar geoengineering technique involves replicating the effects of a volcanic eruption by spraying sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere.
“You send a rocket into the stratosphere and it scatters microparticles. The principle is to do artificially what volcanic eruptions do”, so “these are technologies which send back, which reflect solar radiation, rather than letting it penetrate into the atmosphere”, explained Pascal Lamy, the president of the Global Commission on Reducing Climate Risks from Overshoot.
Pascal Lamy is the former director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the commission he chairs describes itself as “an independent group of international leaders” and scientists, who want to boost geoengineering research. solar.
Kim Campbell, who served as Prime Minister of Canada in 1993, former Mexican President Felipe Calderon, ex-President of Niger Mahamadou Issoufou, to name a few, are part of the Global Commission on Harm Reduction related to the overshoot (Climate Overshoot Commission).
This group is of the opinion that the international community must continue actions aimed at rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But as decarbonization efforts are likely to be insufficient to ensure a viable world, he believes there is a need to explore technologies “of possibly cooling the planet by reflecting incoming solar radiation.”
“We are on the side of those who say that the door should not be closed on this subject. It’s too important, we’re too late (in the fight against climate change) not to lift all the stones behind which we could find something that would help us. But it must be done with the utmost precaution, ”explained Pascal Lamy to The Canadian Press.
“That does not mean that we are advocating the use of that, because there are so many uncertainties”, but we must encourage research on the subject according to the former director of the WTO.
Scientists strongly oppose
Jean-Philippe Sapinski, professor attached to the master’s degree in environmental studies at the University of Moncton, is “completely in disagreement with the intentions of this commission”.
Like hundreds of researchers, he signed an open letter calling for the ratification of an international treaty against the use of solar geoengineering, mainly for three reasons.
A cascade of unpredictable consequences
First, the risks of solar geoengineering are still understudied and the impacts of this type of technology on weather, agriculture and the supply of basic food and water needs are so far extremely uncertain. .
“Because of the complexity of the climate system, a very small change in one place can have very large effects and very far away on the planet,” said Professor Sapinski.
Fears about the unforeseeable consequences are shared by Canada’s Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, briefly questioned on the subject by The Canadian Press.
“The negative consequences of this kind of technology” can “far outweigh the potential positive effects” and “if we deprive a region of the globe of ultraviolet rays, it can have very significant consequences on local ecosystems and possibly on a global scale. planetary”, underlined the minister on the sidelines of a press conference on another subject.
Discourage decarbonization efforts
Opponents of solar geoengineering point out that “tech solutionism,” or the idea that technology can solve problems caused by climate change, could harm efforts to reduce GHGs.
“The possible deployment of large-scale solar geoengineering technologies in the near future is likely to provide a compelling argument for industry lobbyists, climate deniers and some governments to postpone implementation. implementation of ambitious decarbonization policies”, can we read in the open letter which calls for a moratorium.
Professor Sapinski added that the fossil fuel industry finds the promise of solar geo-engineering “very interesting” because it sees it as a way to “continue its business model” when on the contrary, “this what is needed is to reduce GHG emissions as quickly as possible, by planning to shut down the fossil fuel industry which is the main source of these emissions”.
Lack of a global framework
Signatories to the open letter also argue that the global governance system is unable to control the deployment of solar engineering in a “fair, inclusive and effective” manner.
“The United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations Environment Program or the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change have neither the mandate nor the means to ensure fair and effective multilateral control of the deployment solar geo-engineering technologies on a planetary scale”, underlines the letter signed by hundreds of scientists.
“The current political period is very chaotic around the world” and “it is very difficult to think of establishing any global governance for this type of technology”, added Jean-Philippe Sapinski.
While the open letter that Professor Sapinsky signed asks governments and the United Nations to “control and restrict the development of solar geoengineering technologies before it is too late”, Pascal Lamy believes on the contrary that the The UN should develop rules to oversee research and anticipate the possible deployment of this type of technology.
In particular, he points out that countries are already carrying out research on the subject.
“The Americans are the ones who do the most research, which is a problem by the way”, because “on a subject which has such global consequences, to put research only in the hands of a few is not a good method”, indicated Pascal Lamy, adding that research must “be criticized and debated” and accessible to the greatest number.
The Global Commission on Reducing Climate Risks from Overshoot will present a series of recommendations on solar geoengineering, but also on other topics relevant to the climate crisis, on September 14 in New York, a week before the opening of the United Nations General Assembly.
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