Disclosure-based Governance for Climate Engineering Research

CIGI Paper No. 50

November 28, 2014

As climate geoengineering (CE) research moves from modelling and laboratory studies to field experiments, there is a need to move from transparency in principle to transparency in practice. The objective of this paper is to focus attention on two distinct roles that disclosure-based governance is anticipated to play: minimization of the potential for environmental and social concerns associated with CE research; and to generate and maintain legitimacy in the research process itself. Disclosure-based governance must recognize the iterative and inherently normative nature of CE governance and support the development of a decentralized system of disclosure serving multiple ends.

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About the Authors

Neil Craik is a CIGI senior fellow. He is an associate professor at the University of Waterloo where he teaches and researches in the fields of international and Canadian environmental law.  

Nigel Moore is a co-recipient of a CIGI 2012-2013 Collaborative Research Award. He is currently a research fellow with the Sustainable Interactions with the Atmosphere research cluster at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Berlin, Germany.