Is Geoengineering a Viable Option for Dealing with Climate Change?

8 Pages Posted: 26 Apr 2013

See all articles by Johannes Emmerling

Johannes Emmerling

CMCC - Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici - European Institute onEconomy and the Environment (EIEE)

Massimo Tavoni

Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM); Princeton University - Princeton Environmental Institute

Date Written: April 17, 2013

Abstract

The difficulty in implementing comprehensive policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions has led analysts and researchers to wonder about alternative strategies for dealing with climate change. Geoengineering – that is the deliberate reduction of the incoming solar radiation – has received increased interest in recent years as an alternative or complementary climate strategy to abatement of greenhouse gas emissions. In particular, the uncertainties about the magnitude and impact of climate change contributed to the vision of geoengineering as a last resort type of climate policy, which could render abatement in the short term dispensable. In recent research, we analyse the interaction between both types of climate policies and find that under uncertainty, substantial abatement in the medium and short term remains optimal under fairly general conditions due to the time lag until geoengineering options might be available.

Keywords: Geoengineering, Mitigation, Climate Policy, Uncertainty

JEL Classification: Q54, C63, D81

Suggested Citation

Emmerling, Johannes and Tavoni, Massimo, Is Geoengineering a Viable Option for Dealing with Climate Change? (April 17, 2013). Review of Environment, Energy and Economics (Re3), Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2255989

Johannes Emmerling

CMCC - Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici - European Institute onEconomy and the Environment (EIEE) ( email )

Via Bergognone, 34
Milan
Italy

Massimo Tavoni (Contact Author)

Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) ( email )

Corso Magenta 63
20123 Milan
Italy

Princeton University - Princeton Environmental Institute

22 Chambers Street
Princeton, NJ 08544-0708
United States

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