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A Critical Examination Of The Climate Engineering Moral Hazard And Risk Compensation Concern, Jesse Reynolds Oct 2014

A Critical Examination Of The Climate Engineering Moral Hazard And Risk Compensation Concern, Jesse Reynolds

Jesse Reynolds

The widespread concern that research into and potential implementation of climate engineering would reduce mitigation and adaptation is critically examined. First, empirical evidence of such moral hazard or risk compensation in general is inconclusive, and the empirical evidence to date in the case of climate engineering indicates that the reverse may occur. Second, basic economics of substitutes shows that reducing mitigation in response to climate engineering implementation could provide net benefits to humans and the environment, and that climate engineering might theoretically increase mitigation through strong income effects. Third, existing policies strive to promote other technologies and measures, including climate …


The International Regulation Of Climate Engineering: Lessons From Nuclear Power, Jesse Reynolds Jun 2014

The International Regulation Of Climate Engineering: Lessons From Nuclear Power, Jesse Reynolds

Jesse Reynolds

Proposals for climate engineering—intentional large-scale interventions in climate systems—are increasingly under consideration as potential additional responses to climate change, yet they pose risks of their own. Existing international regulation of large-scale field testing and deployment is considered inadequate. This article looks to the closest existing analogy—nuclear power—for lessons, and concludes that climate engineering research will most likely be promoted and will not be the subject of a binding multilateral agreement in the near future. Instead, climate engineering and its research will probably be internationally regulated gradually, with an initially low degree of legalisation, and through a plurality of means and …


Climate Engineering Field Research: The Favorable Setting Of International Environmental Law, Jesse Reynolds Dec 2013

Climate Engineering Field Research: The Favorable Setting Of International Environmental Law, Jesse Reynolds

Jesse Reynolds

As forecasts for climate change and its impacts have become more dire, climate engineering proposals have come under increasing consideration and are presently moving toward field trials. This article examines the relevant international environmental law, distinguishing between climate engineering research and deployment. It also emphasizes the climate change context of these proposals and the enabling function of law. Extant international environmental law generally favors such field tests, in large part because, even though field trials may present uncertain risks to humans and the environment, climate engineering may reduce the greater risks of climate change. Notably, this favorable legal setting is …