Asilomar International Conference on Climate Intervention Technologies
Pacific Grove, CA. March 22-26, 2010
The Scientific Organizing Committee for the Asilomar International Conference on Climate Intervention Technologies drafted and approved the following statement after consideration of valuable input from Conference participants. The list of those conference attendees who have asked to be identified as supporters of the statement can be found below under the heading “Individual Supporters of the Conference Statement"
Conference Statement
More than 175 experts from 15 countries with a wide diversity of backgrounds (natural science, engineering, social science, humanities, law) met for five days (March 22-26, 2010) at the Asilomar conference center in Pacific Grove, CA. The participants explored a range of issues that need to be addressed to ensure that research into the risks, impacts and efficacy of climate intervention methods is responsibly and transparently conducted and that potential consequences are thoroughly understood. The group recognized that given our limited understanding of these methods and the potential for significant impacts on people and ecosystems, further discussions must involve government and civil society. Such discussions should be undertaken with humility and recognition of the threats posed by the rapid increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.
Participants reaffirmed that the risks posed by climate change require a strong commitment to mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, adaptation to unavoidable climate change, and development of low-carbon energy sources independent of whether climate intervention methods ultimately prove to be safe and feasible.
The fact that humanity’s efforts to reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases (mitigation) have been limited to date is a cause of deep concern. Additionally, uncertainties in the response of the climate system to increased greenhouse gases leave open the possibility of very large future changes. It is thus important to initiate further research in all relevant disciplines to better understand and communicate whether additional strategies to moderate future climate change are, or are not, viable, appropriate and ethical. Such strategies, which could be employed in addition to the primary strategy of mitigation, include climate intervention methods (solar radiation management) and climate remediation methods (carbon dioxide removal).
We do not yet have sufficient knowledge of the risks associated with using methods for climate intervention and remediation, their intended and unintended impacts, and their efficacy in reducing the rate of climatic change to assess whether they should or should not be implemented. Thus, further research is essential.
Recognizing that governments collectively have ultimate responsibility for decisions concerning climate intervention and remediation research and possible implementation, this conference represented a step in facilitating a process involving broader public participation. This process should ensure that research on this issue progresses in a timely, safe, ethical and transparent manner, addressing social, humanitarian and environmental issues.
Scientific Organizing Committee
Michael MacCracken, Chief Scientist, Climate Institute, Chair
Paul Berg, Professor Emeritus, Stanford University, Advisor and Honorary Chair
Paul Crutzen, Max Planck Institute, Germany, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, US (corresponding member)
Scott Barrett, Lenfest Professor of Natural Resource Economics, Columbia University, US
Roger Barry, Director of the World Data Center for Glaciology and Distinguished Professor of Geography, University of Colorado, US
Steven Hamburg, Chief Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund, US
Richard Lampitt, Senior Scientist, National Oceanography Center and Professor, University of Southampton, UK
Diana Liverman, Co-Director of the Institute for Environment and Society and Professor of Geography and Regional Development, University of Arizona, US. Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Oxford and Senior Fellow in the Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University, UK
Thomas Lovejoy, Heinz Center Biodiversity Chair at the Heinz Center for Science and the Environment, US
Gordon McBean, Professor, Departments of Geography and Political Science and Director of Policy Studies at the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
John Shepherd, Professorial Research Fellow in Earth System Science, School of Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton, and Deputy Director (External Science Coordination) of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change
Research, UK
Stephen Seidel, Vice President for Policy Analysis and General Counsel at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, US
Richard Somerville, Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Research Professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, US
Thomas Wigley, Professor, University of Adelaide, Australia
Individual Supporters of the Conference Statement
Affiliations listed in this section are provided for identification purposes only and do not indicate the organization's stance on this statement.
Thomas Ackerman, University of Washington
Roger Aines
Jim Amonette
G. Bala, Center for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
Richard Elliot Benedick., National Council for Science and the Environment
Robert J. Berg, World Federation of United Nations Associations; World Academy of Art and Science
Robert Bindschadler, NASA (emeritus) and University of Maryland, Baltimore Campus
Jason Blackstock, Centre for International Governance Innovation and International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Daniel Bodansky
Peter Boyd
Max Boykoff, University of Colorado-Boulder
Stewart Brand, Global Business Network
Mark B. Brown, Department of Government, California State University, Sacramento
Wil Burns
Fei Chai, University of Maine
Elizabeth Chalecki, Boston College
Paul Craig
Jim Fournier
Bill Fulkerson
Alan Gadian
Alfonso M. Gañán-Calvo, Universidad de Sevilla
Joseph H. Golden
David G. Hawkins
Marty Hoffert
Rob Jackson, Center on Global Change, Duke University
David Keith
Ben Kravitz
Tim Kruger, Oxford Geoengineering
Margaret Leinen, Climate Response Fund
Chris Lennard
Andrew Lockley
Jane C. S. Long
Douglas MacMynowski, California Institute of Technology
Andrew S. Mathews
Bryan Martel, Environmental Capital Group
Janot Mendler de Suarez, Working Group on Climate, Oceans and Security; Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts and Islands
Ashley Mercer, UC Berkeley
Juan B. Moreno-Cruz, ISEEE-Energy and Environmental Systems Group and Department of Economics, University of Calgary
David Morrow
Armand Neukermans, Silver Lining
John A. Orcutt, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego
Andreas Oschlies, IFM-GEOMAR, Kiel, Germany
Edward A. Parson, University of Michigan
Graeme Pearman, Graeme Pearman Consulting Pty Ltd, Melbourne
Seth Perlman
Arthur Petersen
Phil Rasch
Steve Rayner, James Martin Professor of Science & Civilization, University of Oxford
Jennie Rice
Alan Robock, Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University
Daniel Rosenfeld
Lewis M Rothstein, Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode island
Stephen H. Schneider
Jerry Schubel
Sybil P. Seitzinger, International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP)
Steven Smith, University of Maryland
Robert Socolow
J. Srinivasan, Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science, Banaglore
Stuart Strand, University of Washington
Pablo Suarez , Boston University, Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future
Masahiro Sugiyama
Judith Swift, Coastal Institute, University of Rhode Island
Samuel Thernstrom, American Enterprise Institute
Bob Thronson
Simone Tilmes, National Center for Atmospheric Research
Dennis Tirpak
William R. Travis, Center for Science and Technology Policy Research; Department of Geography, University of Colorado at Boulder
David Victor
Chris Vivian, Cefas (Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science), Lowestoft Laboratory
Gernot Wagner
James S. Wang, Climate and Air Program, Environmental Defense Fund
Andrew Watson, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia
Dan Whaley
Kevin Whilden
Oliver Wingenter, Geophysical Research Center, New Mexico Tech
David Winickoff
Oran R. Young, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
Charlie Zender