ITRE

Deus Ex Machina: As global CO2 emissions persistently rise, geoengineering as a potential solution for anthropogenic climate change is becoming more popular amongst scientists and experts. Given the method’s controversial nature and the raised concerns regarding its potential environmental, social, and geopolitical consequences, what stance should the EU adopt on geoengineering, considering the ethical implications…

Deus Ex Machina: As global CO2 emissions persistently rise, geoengineering as a potential solution for anthropogenic climate change is becoming more popular amongst scientists and experts. Given the method’s controversial nature and the raised concerns regarding its potential environmental, social, and geopolitical consequences, what stance should the EU adopt on geoengineering, considering the ethical implications and the need for responsible and sustainable climate solutions?

Submitted by: Frank Amelung (NL), Elena Brüschweiler (NL), Michael Condruc (NL), Jasper Hesselmans (NL), Benno Kronemeijer (NL), Camiel Rahouti (NL),  Stefan van der Linde (NL), Koen van der Meer (NL); Chaired by: Aleksey Lykhovskiy (CH)

The European Youth Parliament,

  1. Acknowledging the unknown risks of geoengineering1,
  2. Noting the importance of a global scale cooperation regarding geoengineering to prevent misuse,
  3. Bearing in mind the high construction costs of geoengineering technologies leading to companies not investing in emission-friendly methods,
  4. Keeping in mind that a termination shock2 could be a consequence of geoengineering,
  5. Further noting the scarcity of knowledge on geoengineering,
  6. Admitting the use of geoengineering is helpful in reaching the Paris Agreement3;

The committee,

  1. Instructs the European Environmental Agency to further research the risks and benefits of geoengineering;
  2. Invites the United Nations (UN) to set internationally binding rules regarding the misuse of geoengineering;
  3. Calls upon the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to involve every country that is affected by the implementation of geoengineering in the discussions of the IPCC; 
  4. Asks Member States to impose a universal carbon tax on all companies operating within the EU;
  5. Urges the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors to the European Commission to delegate the downscale of Solar Radiation Management (SRM)4 according to the reduction of carbon emissions;
  6. Requests the European Climate Pact to spread awareness about the risks and benefits of SRM;
  7. Directs the Directorate General on Education, Youth, Sports and Culture (DG-EAC) to set up curricula about the short-term approach to geoengineering;
  8. Further encourages the UN to manage the usage of aerosol infusions across nations to decrease carbon emissions in order to achieve the conditions set by the Paris Agreement.
  1. Geoengineering: The purposeful, extensive manipulation of Earth’s natural processes in order to halt climate change. ↩︎
  2. Terminational shock: Rapid rise in global temperature.   ↩︎
  3. Paris Agreement: International agreement on climate change, adopted in 2015, which aims to cap global warming at 2°C ↩︎
  4. SRM refers to proposed approaches to cool the Earth by reflecting solar radiation back to space. ↩︎