Jesse Reynolds (Tilburg University – Department of European & International Public Law) has posted two papers on climate engineering on SSRN:
Climate Engineering, Law, and Regulation( The Oxford Handbook on the Law and Regulation of Technology (Edited by Roger Brownsword, Eloise Scotford, and Karen Yeung, OUP, 2016):
Solar climate engineering — intentional modification of the planet’s reflectivity — is coming under increasing consideration as a means to counter climate change. At present, it offers the possibility of greatly reducing climate risks, but would pose physical and social risks of its own. This chapter offers an introduction to solar climate engineering, exploring its potential, risks, and legal and regulatory challenges. It also contextualizes these proposals with respect to other emerging technologies and the broader socio-political milieu. The contours of existing and potential regulation, particularly at the international level, are explored. These aspects include regulatory rationales, diverse characteristics of proposed regulatory regimes, difficulties in defining the regulatory target, and the management of uncertainty through precaution. The chapter closes with suggested future research directions in the law and regulation of solar climate engineering.
Climate Engineering and International Law (Forthcoming in Climate Change Law, Elgar Encyclopedia of Environmental Law, Vol. 1, DA Farber and M Peeters, eds.):
In the face of dire forecasts of climate change and disappointing emissions abatement, some scientists and others are increasingly suggesting and researching intentional, large-scale interventions in natural systems in order to counteract climate change. These ‘climate engineering’ or ‘geoengineering’ proposals presently appear to hold the potential to significantly reduce the risks from climate change, but they also would pose environmental and social risks and would raise numerous legal questions, particularly at the international level. After introducing climate engineering, this chapter suggests why climate engineering is challenging for international environmental law and its scholars, describes briefly applicable international legal instruments and reviews the existing legal scholarship on the international environmental law of climate engineering, with particular attention to proposals for future international regulation. It closes with suggestions for future research.