When talking about climate change solutions, we often hear about reducing emissions and adapting to climate impacts, but a third option is starting to get more attention: altering the atmosphere. In this episode of TILclimate (Today I Learned: Climate), MIT alumnus Janos Pasztor joins host Laur Hesse Fisher to explain geoengineering: what it is and the different technologies that are being researched. They also dive into the opportunities and challenges presented by geoengineering, and what difficult decisions we might need to make as a society. Janos Pasztor, an MIT alum, is the Executive Director of the Carnegie Climate Geoengineering Governance Initiative (C2G2), which seeks to create effective governance for geoengineering; it aims to expand the conversation from the scientific and research community to global policy-making, and to encourage a society-wide discussion about the risks, potential benefits, ethical and governance challenges. Before his current position, Mr. Pasztor was the UN Assistant Secretary General for Climate Change and the Policy and Science Director of the WWF (2012-2015). From 1993–2006, he worked at the secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

For more short climate change explainers, check out: www.tilclimate.mit.edu.

Links

To learn more, check out: Mr. Pasztor’s work:

• Carnegie Climate Geoengineering Governance Initiative Website
• Video - Global Ethics Forum: The Ethics and Governance of Geoengineering (Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs)

For more information on geoengineering:

• What is geoengineering? (Oxford Geoengineering Programme)
• Geoengineering overview (Global Challenges)
• Rules for geoengineering the planet (MIT Technology Review)
• Excerpt from “Geoengineering: Climate Tragedy, Repair, and Restoration (Holly Jean Buck, published in MIT Technology Review)

More on absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (carbon dioxide removal):

• Nature-based solutions (World Resources Institute)
• Direct air capture (DAC) (Fortune) * Biomass Energy Carbon Capture & Storage (BECCS) (Carbon Brief)

More on solar radiation management:

• Stratospheric aerosol injection (CBS)

An overview of climate change:

• Climate Science and Climate Risk: A Primer (Kerry Emanuel)

Credits

• Laur Hesse Fisher, Host and Producer
• David Lishansky, Editor and Producer
• Cecelia Bolon, Student Production Assistant
• Music by Blue Dot Sessions
• Artwork by Aaron Krol

Special thanks to Tom Kiley and MIT Open Learning. Produced by the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.