Negative emissions and geoengineering technologies: an emerging challenge for international and domestic legal systems

Proposals to develop ‘negative emissions’ and ‘geoengineering’ technologies have risen in prominence as a response to anthropogenic climate change. The work of the IPCC and the recently concluded Paris Climate Change Agreement both implicitly assume that geoengineering will play a significant role in international climate change policy. Geoengineering proposals may present a future means to stabilise rising global temperatures and avoid the worse effects of climate change. However, they also present significant environmental risks and international governance challenges. This chapter provides an overview of proposed geoengineering technologies and introduces key legal issues they raise. Further law and governance research is needed to understand how geoengineering technologies should be governed at an international and domestic level to facilitate responsible research whilst managing concurrent social and environmental risks.