Did global governance of geoengineering just fall at the first hurdle?
Delegates discussed a draft resolution regarding solar geoengineering and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) at the fourth session of the UN environment assembly (UNEA), which took place from the 11th to 15th of March in Nairobi. The Swiss government put forward the draft resolution with the support of a dozen other countries. The core action proposed by the draft resolution was to “prepare an assessment of the status of geoengineering technologies, in particular, carbon dioxide removal technologies and solar radiation management,” including both current scientific evidence as well as actual and potential governance tools for these techniques. The resolution went through several drafts but was ultimately withdrawn after the parties failed to reach an agreement on it.
We have asked a set of experts on the governance of solar geoengineering and CDR, some of whom were present for these discussions, to give their take on these developments.