20.02.2018

# Media

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Environmental Research Web: Solar geoengineering threatens global biodiversity

"Geoengineering programmes that inject aerosols into the atmosphere to cool the planet may harm wildlife. That's according to a team of scientists from the US, whose new study suggests that suddenly starting or stopping geoengineering programmes may prevent species from successfully tracking changes in climate."

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23.01.2018

# New Publications

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Trisos, Christopher H.; et al. (2018): Potentially dangerous consequences for biodiversity of solar geoengineering implementation and termination

Trisos, Christopher H.; Amatulli, Giuseppe; Gurevitch, Jessica; Robock, Alan; Xia, Lili; Zambri, Brian (2018): Potentially dangerous consequences for biodiversity of solar geoengineering implementation and termination. In Nat Ecol Evol 355. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-017-0431-0.

"Here, we assess the effects of the rapid implementation, continuation and sudden termination of geoengineering on climate velocities—the speeds and directions that species would need to move to track changes in climate. Compared to a moderate climate change scenario (RCP4.5), rapid geoengineering implementation reduces temperature velocities towards zero in terrestrial biodiversity hotspots. [...] Rapid geoengineering termination would significantly increase the threats to biodiversity from climate change."

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22.11.2017

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Los Angeles Times: Scientists aim to fight climate change with super plants

"Friday, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego launched a new initiative to improve on the ability of plants to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and store it deep in the soil. They call it “Harnessing Plants.” “There are a lot of geoengineering efforts to come up with ways of pulling carbon dioxide out of the air,” said Joseph Noel, a chemical biologist at Salk who is working on the project. “Plants do this anyway, so why not try a biological solution as well.”"

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24.10.2017

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National Geographic: First Half-Earth Day Offers a Chance to Halt Species Extinction

"The first steps in technology are already on the table. A few scientists are exploring the possibilities of geoengineering, including the release of particles and chemicals into the sea and atmosphere in order to counteract climate change. As biodiversity is stripped away and replaced by artifacts the world will be run less by nature and more by human terranauts."

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22.09.2017

# New Publications

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Burns, Wil; Nicholson, Simon (2017): Bioenergy and carbon capture with storage (BECCS). The prospects and challenges of an emerging climate policy response

Burns, Wil; Nicholson, Simon (2017): Bioenergy and carbon capture with storage (BECCS). The prospects and challenges of an emerging climate policy response. In J Environ Stud Sci 15 (2), p. 1360. DOI: 10.1007/s13412-017-0445-6.

"There is increasing impetus for large-scale deployment of carbon dioxide removal geoengineering approaches to help keep temperatures to below 2 °C, as provided for under the Paris Agreement. The primary option that has been discussed to date is Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). While BECCS could sequester very large amounts of carbon dioxide, it also poses substantial socio-economic risks to society, as well as threats to biodiversity. This essay suggests that a human rights-based approach can help to protect the interests of those who might be adversely impacted by BECCS deployment."

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13.12.2016

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Energy Mix: UN Affirms ‘Precautionary Approach’ to Planetary Geoengineering

"Stressing a “precautionary approach” to meddling with the earth’s systems on a planetary scale, the biennial meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is poised to recommend against large-scale geoengineering experiments until the impacts on oceans and the atmosphere are better understood."

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10.12.2016

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SDG Knowledge Hub: UN Biodiversity Conference Advances Work on Sustainable Wildlife Management, Climate-related Geo-Engineering

"Working Group II approved without, or with minor discussion, conference room papers (CRPs) on sustainable wildlife management, recommendations from the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), and climate-related geo-engineering."

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12.11.2016

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IISD: CBD Report Highlights Uncertainties of Geoengineering Assessment

"The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has reported on the potential impacts of geoengineering techniques on biodiversity and regulatory developments. The technical report provides an update on these issues following 2012 technical studies on the impacts of climate-related geoengineering on biodiversity and the regulatory framework for climate-related geoengineering relevant to the Convention."

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09.10.2016

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New Scientist: Let’s harness synthetic biology to fix our broken planet

"If we want to reverse desertification, synthetic bacteria are one of the safer geoengineering options, says biologist."

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25.03.2016

# New Publications

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McCormack, Caitlin G.; et al. (2016): Key impacts of climate engineering on biodiversity and ecosystems, with priorities for future research

McCormack, Caitlin G.; Born, Wanda; Irvine, Peter J.; Achterberg, Eric P.; Amano, Tatsuya; Ardron, Jeff et al. (2016): Key impacts of climate engineering on biodiversity and ecosystems, with priorities for future research. In Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences, pp. 1–26. DOI 10.1080/1943815X.2016.1159578.

"A literature review was carried out to identify details of the potential ecological effects of climate engineering techniques. A group of biodiversity and environmental change researchers then employed a modified Delphi expert consultation technique to evaluate this evidence and prioritize the effects based on the relative importance of, and scientific understanding about, their biodiversity and ecosystem consequences."

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