Contested Notions of
Responsibility in
Climate
Engineering Discourse
Nils Matzner, M.A.
AAU Klagenfurt/Graz/Wien
Project CE-SciPol
How to Meet a Global Challenge?
Climate Engineering at the Science-Policy Nexus: Contested Understandings of
Responsible Research and Governance
Klagenfurt
STS-Institute
Darmstadt
Linguistics
Central questions
What role plays responsibility in
the climate engineering
discourse?
How are notions of responsibility
constructed?
United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (1992)
„Responsibility“
- „States have […] the sovereign right to exploit their own resources […] and the
responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not
cause damage to the environment of other States […].“ (Präambel)
- „The Parties should protect the climate system for the benefit of present and
future generations of humankind, on the basis of equity and in accordance with
their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.
Accordingly, the developed country Parties should take the lead in combating
climate change and the adverse effects thereof.“ (Art. 3.1)
Failing to mitigate GHG emissions
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2013): Working Group I Contribution to the IPCC Fifth
Assessment Report. Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Summary for Policymakers.
Responsibility to mitigate climate
change
Failing to mitigate GHG emissions
Climate Engineering
“This ‘horrible’ idea of intentional climate intervention goes hand in
hand with the requirement for taking responsibility for our climate and
accepting that mankind now has stewardship of the planetary
environment. Geoengineering creates a tension between the hubris of
thinking that humans could manage the problem and the responsibility
to try.” (Long/Shepherd 2014: 762)
Long, Jane C. S.; Shepherd, John G. (2014): The Strategic Value of Geoengineering Research. In Bill
Freedman (Ed.): Global Environmental Change. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, pp. 757–770.
Plan B
Climate Engineering
Solar Radiation
Management
SRM
Carbon Dioxid Removal
CDR
General criteria:
- Risks and uncertainties
- Global impact
- Change human-nature-relation
Climate Engineering ir/responsible?
deployme
nt
responsible
Because the HSRC
experiment mimics a natural
process and the fact “that
the natural process has been
disrupted by humans
already, perhaps making
remediation a human
Buck, Holly Jean (2014): Village Science Meets Global
responsibility.”
Discourse. The Haida Salmon Restoration Corporation’s
Ocean Iron Fertilization Experiment (Geoengineering Our
Climate? Working Paper and Opinion Article Series).
irresponsible
“The unlicensed and secret
experiment carried out by
Russ George was seen by
much of the scientific
community as both deceitful
and irresponsible.”
Zhang, Zhihua; Moore, John C.; Huisingh, Donald; Zhao,
Yongxin (2014): Review of Geoengineering Approaches
to Mitigating Climate Change. In Journal of Cleaner
Production. DOI 10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.09.076.
Indetermined notion of responsibility
Subject
Object
who
for what
Responsibility
Norm
based on
notion of responsibility remains unclear
Instiution
by whom
Climate
political
domains
science-policy
nexus
science
policy
civil society
Lord Martin Rees (RS, UK)
science-policy
nexus
Alan Robock (USA)
Ben Kravitz (USA)
Rene Röspel (GRÜNE)
science
policy
David Keith (CA/USA)
Helene Muri (NO)
Ken Caldeira (USA)
Stephen Salter (UK)
Paul Crutzen (NL/DE)
civil society
Pat Mooney (ETC)
Diana Bronson (ETC)
science-policy
nexus
scientific studies
Documents:
• Science (352)
• Science-policy (59)
• Policy (16)
• Civil society (68)
political documents
science
policy
editorials + reviews
civil society
Frequency analysis of all domains
climate: 19,686
emission: 8,056
geoengineering: 15,468
atmosphere: 4,779
climate: 19,686
emission: 8,056
potential: 4,667
risk: 4,646
governance: 3,059
geoengineering: 15,468
atmosphere: 4,779
uncertainty: 1,909
responsibility: 780
moral: 255
Discoursive development of
„responsibility“
Relative frequency in different domains over time
11
NG
O
polic
y
9
7
TA
6
scipol
5
4
5
think
tanks
3
3
3
sci.
commen
t
sci.
studies
6
5
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1977-2000
2000-2005
2006-2008
2009-2011
2012-2014
Scientific studies
Scientific comments
Science-policy reports
Policy
NGOs
Think tanks
Policy & TA reports
Collocation network of „responsibility“
(1)
Collocation network of „responsibility“
(2)
strong discoursive
focus
Different concepts of
responsibility
• “responsibility” remains fuzzy
“Governments must clarify
responsibilities for, and, when
necessary, create new mechanisms for
the governance and oversight of
large-scale climate engineering
research activities that have the
potential or intent to significantly
modify the environment or affect
society.” (Asilomar 2010)
• Often unclear who, is responsible for
what, by which norm, to which
institution.
e.g. “[…] humans might, one day,
accept responsibility to manage the
planetary environment.” (Cicerone
2006)
• Actors stress particular responsibilities
e.g. eNGOs make the global North
responsible for climate change
Further research
• Interviews with scientists, policy makers, NGO activists,
think tank employees.
• Further research on how subject, object, norms, and
institutions are adressed in science, science-policy
interface, policy, and civil society.
• Relating responsibility to governance conceps.
Conclusion
1. Responsibility is not a main topic in
CE discourse
2. Responsibility grows in importance,
but governance of CE research
and deployment remains central
3. Responsibility is still fuzzy or actor
specific used
 More qualitative research on
notions to be done
Contact
[email protected] | www.sts.aau.at |
Researchgate.net | academia.edu |
@motoko18
Publications per domain
250
200
150
100
50
0
1977-1999
2000-2005
Science
SciPol
2006-2008
Policy
NGOs
2009-2011
Think Tanks
2012-2014
Extreme der wissenschaftlichen Debatte
Hybris
“[..] the idea of “fixing”
the climate by hacking
the Earth’s reflection of
sunlight is wildly, utterly,
howlingly barking mad.”
(Raymond
Pierrehumbert)
Pierrehumbert, Raymond T. (2015): Climate Hacking Is Barking
Mad. You can’t fix the Earth with these geoengineering
proposals, but you can sure make it worse. In Slate, 2/10/2015.
Available online at
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015
/02/nrc_geoengineering_report_climate_hacking_is_dangerous_
Technical
Fix
“With proper understanding of
the results […], we may learn
how to control fleets of spray
vessels to obtain beneficial
reduction of droughts, the
prevention of floods, and
increases in ice cover by the
correct choices of place and
season for spray operations.“
(Stephen Salter)
Salter, Stephen (2013): Solar Radiation Management, Cloud
Albedo Enhancement. In Timothy M. Lenton, Naomi E.
Vaughan (Eds.): Geoengineering Responses to Climate
Change. Selected Entries from the Encyclopedia of
Sustainability Science and Technology. New York, NY:
Extreme der außerhalb der Wissenschaft
Hybris
“[...] in terms of […]
responsibility […] –
geoengineering is an
act of geopiracy.”
(Pat Mooney, ETC
Group)
ETC Group (2009): Retooling the Planet: Climate Chaos in a
Geoengineering Age. Swedish Society for Nature Conservation.
Stockholm.
Technical
Fix
Climate change: “It's
an engineering
problem and it has
engineering solutions.“
(Rex Tillerson, Exxon
CEO)
Daily, Matt (2012): Exxon CEO calls climate change
engineering problem. In Reuters, 6/27/2012.
Auf die Mitte konzentrierte
Wissenschaftsdiskurs
“The Strategic Value of Geoengineering”
(Long/Shepherd 2014)
Zieltemperatur
Approach to discourse analysis
Lexicometrical analysis
▪ Discourse analysis embedded in political
science, sociology and STS analyses
approach
• Quantitative / representative
• Qualitative / selected key texts
scope
• Word frequencies, concordances, and • Interpreting texts in relation to
keywords
institutional contexts and speakers
example
• Comparative distribution & articulation • Different meanings of “responsibility”,
of “responsibility”, “uncertainty” etc.
“uncertainty”, “governance” etc.
responsibility
Indicates?
lack of
governance
Keller, Reiner (2008): Wissenssoziologische Diskursanalyse. Grundlegung eines Forschungsprogrammes. 2nd ed. Wiesbaden: VS-Verl (Interdisziplinare Diskursforschung).
Baker, Paul (2006): Using corpora in discourse analysis: Continuum.
27
Rockström, Johan; Steffen, Will; Noone, Kevin; Persson, Asa; Chapin, F. Stuart; Lambin, Eric F. et al. (2009): A safe operating space for humanity. In Nature 461 (7263), pp.
472–475. DOI 10.1038/461472a.
28
CE-Einsatz: Stratosphärische Schwefelaerosole
Abkühlung
Kein
Effekt
Saurer
Regen
Abbau
Kein
Effekt
???
Kein
Effekt
veränderte
Niederschläge
Rockström, Johan; Steffen, Will; Noone, Kevin; Persson, Asa; Chapin, F. Stuart; Lambin, Eric F. et al. (2009): A safe operating space for humanity. In Nature 461 (7263), pp.
472–475. DOI 10.1038/461472a.
29
CE-Einsatz: Ozeanische Eisendüngung
langsame
Abkühlung
Verringerung
Saurer
Regen
Kein
Effekt
Überdüng
ung?
???
Kein
Effekt
???
Rockström, Johan; Steffen, Will; Noone, Kevin; Persson, Asa; Chapin, F. Stuart; Lambin, Eric F. et al. (2009): A safe operating space for humanity. In Nature 461 (7263), pp.
472–475. DOI 10.1038/461472a.
30
Kapitelüberschrift
The earth at night in the
Holocene
Kapitelüberschrift
The earth at night in the
Anthropocene
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whole_world_-_at_night.png
KAPITEL 2
Das technische Denken im Anthropozän
Ingenieursdenken im Anthropozän
„Unless there is a global catastrophe — a meteorite impact, a world war or a
pandemic — mankind will remain a major environmental force for many
millennia. A daunting task lies ahead for scientists and engineers to guide
society towards environmentally sustainable management during the era of
the Anthropocene. This will require appropriate human behaviour at all scales,
and may well involve internationally accepted, large-scale geo-engineering
projects, for instance to ‘optimize’ climate. At this stage, however, we are still
largely treading on terra incognita“ (Crutzen 2002: 23)
Antworten auf den Klimawandel
“insane, utterly mad
and delusional”
“[E]vidence from all continents and most
oceans shows that many natural systems
are being affected by regional climate
changes, particularly temperature
increases.“ (IPCC AR4)
“Here’s what we can do — now: we can
make an immediate and large strategic
investment to […] use fuel that is free
forever: the sun, the wind and the
natural heat of the earth. “(Al Gore
2008)
„Given the grossly disappointing international
political response to the required greenhouse gas
emissions, and further considering some drastic
results of recent studies, research on the feasibility
and environmental consequences of climate
engineering […], which might need to be deployed in
future, should not be tabooed.“ (P. Crutzen 2006)
35
Framings von CE (Buck 2011)
Katastrophe
The world / the planet / "we"
are in urgent trouble and need
to be saved.
Management
It is cheaper to geoengineer
than to cut emissions.
Vorsicht
"Life is about weighing risks"
(Gorrie, 2008).
Räumlich-zeitliche
Herausforderung
Most stories are framed
internationally.
„Bildungsroman“
The Earth is sick, but maybe
humans have the power to
heal her.
Buck, Holly Jean (2011): Climate Engineering in the New Media Landscape: Culture, Power, and Climate Control. Lund University. Lund. Online verfügbar unter
http://www.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=19464&postid=1940495, zuletzt geprüft am 31.10.2011.
Diskursive Bewertung (Luokkanen, et al.
2013)
Luokkanen, Matti; Huttunen, Suvi; Hilden, Mikael (2013): Geoengineering, news media and metaphors: Framing the controversial. In: Public Understanding of Science.
DOI: 10.1177/0963662513475966.
Diskursiver Längsschnitt (Scholte, et al.
2013)
Scholte, Samantha; Vasileiadou, Eleftheria; Petersen, Arthur C. (2013): Opening up the societal debate on climate engineering: how newspaper frames are changing.
In: Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences, S. 1–16.
Bildanalyse (Curvelo 2012)
“[…] [T]he full meaning of
geoengineering
debates can only be perceived
if it is connected with the larger
social imaginary of science
and technology in which
geoengineering narratives are
rooted.”
Curvelo, Paula (2012): Exploring the Ethics of Geoengineering through Images. In: The International Journal of the Image 2 (2), S. 177–198.
Definitions-Diskurs
Geoengineering
Climate Engineering
Climate Remidiation
Prominente Definition
Royal Societe 2009
Rickels/BMBF 2011
Asilomar 2010
Prinzip
Effektgrößenbezeichnung
Aktionsbezeichnung
Merkmale
Am weitesten Verbreitet
(10981)
- Ursprünglicher Begriff
- Kann auch Terraforming
meinen
Zielgrößenbezeichnun
g
Oft verwendet (1730)
- Leichter verständlich
- Genauer?
- Verharmlosung?
Politische Implikation
Ingenieurstechnische
planetarische
Veränderung.  Entweder
Risikobewusst oder
Technikglaube.
Ingenieurstechnischer
Eingriff in das Klima. 
Korrekte Wissenschaft
oder
„Zurückdrehen“ des
Klimas auf einen
Zustand, der zu
definieren ist. 
Begrenzter Eingriff,
verantwortliches
Handeln und
Reparatur.
Kaum verwendet (15)
- Wiederherstellen
eines vorherigen Klimazustandes
“Whether this idea is right, or
“This improved science and
some other idea is right, I think
engineering will, whether we like
it’s almost certain we will
it or not, give us more and more
eventually think of clever things
leverage to affect the planet. To
that just putting sulfur in. That if
control the planet. To give us
engineers and scientists really
weather and climate control,
turn their minds to this, it’s
not because we plan it, just
amazing how we can affect the
because science delivers it to us
planet. The one thing about this
bit by bit. With better knowledge
is that it gives us extraordinary
of way the system works, and
leverage.”
better engineering tools to
effect it.”
Ted talk 2007: Geo-engineering to slow global warming: David Keith on TED.com. http://blog.ted.com/2007/11/13/david_keith/
a.
b.
c.
d.
intent
large scale
technological fix
counteract climate change
(Kiel Earth Institute 2011)
Climate
Engineering
Entwicklung von Forschung und Debatte
• 1950er
Erste Ideen aus Militär, Politik und Wissenschaft
• 2000
Ersthafte Diskussion in der Wissenschaft
• 2006
Intervention von Paul Crutzen
• 2009
Royal Society Report – UN Convention on Biological Diversity spricht
Moratorium aus – NGOs intervenieren
• Ab 2011
Normalisierung der Debatte und gründliche Begutachtung
ABSCHNITT 2
Vorstellung des SPP
Geschichte des SPP 1689
• 3 / 2010 Eisenach: DFG-gefördertes Rundgespräch
• 9 / 2010 Kiel: DFG-gefördertes Kolloquium zur SPP-Antragstellung
• 11 / 2010: SPP-Antrag eingereicht
• 4 / 2011: Intensive Diskussion im DFG-Senat auf Basis externer Gutachten, Abstimmung 50:50; Antrag
abgelehnt, mögliche Wiedereinreichung nach Einholung DFG-interner Expertise und
wissenschaftspolitischer Diskussion
• 9 / 2011 Kiel: DFG-gefördertes Kolloquium zur Antragsüberarbeitung
• Herbst 2011: Stellungnahmen vom Nationalkomittee Global Change Forschung und zweier
Senatskommissionen (Ozeanographie, Geowiss.)
• 11 / 2011: Überarbeiteter SPP-Antrag eingereicht
• 4 / 2012: SPP-Antrag vom DFG-Senat angenommen
• 9 / 2012: Einreichung der Einzelprojektanträge
• 3 / 2013: Förderentscheide
• 6 / 2013: Kick-off meeting in Berlin
Key Objectives
1. Examine how different notions of “responsibility” are conceived of and
communicated by researchers, policy-makers, and interested publics
engaged in assessing or governing CE, taking into account differences
between the exemplary approaches selected by the PP (atmospheric
aerosols, ocean alkalinity, and afforestation).
2. Identify distinct epistemic communities concerning CE and the shifting
boundaries between climate science and climate policy, in particular key
issues such as knowledge validity, control in experimentation or
technology deployment, appropriate prevention and precaution, or
democratic legitimacy.
3. Substantively contribute to the PP by adopting an agenda of research
and engagement oriented towards anticipatory governance of science
and technology in society, focusing on foresight, interdisciplinary
knowledge integration, science communication and public engagement.
Klimapolitische Optionen
Menschliches
Handeln
Klimasystem
Menschliche
Wohlfahrt
Mitigation
Climate Engineering
Adaption
(nachhaltige Entwicklung)
Keith, David W. (2000): Geoengineering the Climate: History and Prospect. In Annu. Rev. Energy Environ (Annual
Review of Energy and the Environment) 25 (1), pp. 245–284
Akteure von Climate Engineering
• Gruppe von Wissenschaftler_innen
• Teilweise: parlamentarische Politik, NGOs
• Unterstützer_innen: Exxon Mobile, Bill Gates Foundation
ExxonMobil CEO Rex
Tillerson: “It's an
engineering problem
and there will be an
engineering solution.”