Implications of geoengineering under the 1.5 °C target: Analysis and policy suggestions

The Paris Agreement introduced a 1.5 degrees C target to control the rise in global temperature, but clear arrangements for feasible implementation pathways were not made. Achieving the 1.5 degrees C target imposes high requirements on global emission reduction. Nationally Determined Contributions of all Parties are far from the 1.5 degrees C target, and conventional emission reduction technologies and policies will also have difficulty in fulfilling this task. In this context, geoengineering is gaining interest in the international arena. The Paris Agreement includes afforestation, carbon capture, utilization and storage, and negative emission technologies such as bio-energy with carbon capture and store. All of these techniques are CO2 removal technologies that belong to geoengineering. Solar radiation management, which is highly controversial, has also attracted increased attention in recent years. Although the outline of the IPCC Special Report on 1.5 degrees C does not include a specific section on geoengineering issues yet, geoengineering is an unconventional technical option that cannot be avoided in research and discussions on impact assessment, technical options, ethics, and international governance under the 1.5 degrees C target. On the basis of analyzing and discussing above-mentioned issues, this paper proposes several policy suggestions for China to strengthen research on and response to geoengineering.