Ethics and Solar Geoengineering

The Harvard University Center for the Environment and the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School invite abstract submissions for a conference on the Ethics of Solar Geoengineering, to be held on February 2nd and February 3rd, 2023. 

This conference is motivated by the question of how, if at all, should countries engage in solar geoengineering research and possible deployment? This increasingly divisive question is in part one for scientists and modelers: we need a clearer picture of the risks and benefits of various deployment regimes. But solar geoengineering also raises normative questions concerning justice, legitimacy, and governance of the technology and these questions are best answered with the help of political philosophers and ethicists. We aim to bring together philosophers, theorists, public policymakers, and representatives from communities who are especially impacted by the climate crisis in order to explore the normative dimensions of disagreement concerning the development and possible deployment of solar geoengineering technologies. 

Keynotes and Panelists include Stephen Gardiner, Marion Hourdequin, and Lucas Stanczyk. 

We welcome submissions by early career, international, BIPOC, and indigenous researchers, and welcome interdisciplinary submissions. 

Possible topics include: 

• Solar geoengineering and intergenerational justice

• Solar geoengineering and international/global justice

• Solar geoengineering and legitimacy 

• Governance of solar geoengineering 

• Indigenous rights and self-determination, and solar geoengineering 

• Migration, mobility, and climate Change 

Submissions of ~500-word abstracts should be prepared for anonymous review and submitted via the form link below. Accepted presenters will give a 20-40 minute presentation with a Q&A following, or be selected to present on a panel alongside other presenters addressing similar themes. Panels will involve a ~10 minute presentation followed by a moderated discussion. Participants will be able to specify if they favor one of these options in the submission form.  Submissions will be accepted until November 11 at 6pm. Accepted presenters will be notified in late November. This conference will be held in person at the Harvard Kennedy School, with some sessions available via virtual attendance.

Submission link: https://forms.gle/LGt1PfUe5cJhAJQi7

We may have space for a limited number of non-speaking attendees. Registration details forthcoming.