GENIE

About the GENIE project

The path to climate neutrality needs to explicitly consider the roles of solar geoengineering and negative emissions technologies. A meta-analytical framework where social science, engineering, and physical science disciplines merge is necessary for a comprehensive mapping of this transition. The EU-funded GENIE project will explore the environmental, technical, social, legal, ethical and policy dimensions of greenhouse gas removal and solar radiation management. GENIE aims to produce a comprehensive scientific assessment for evidence-based policymaking to address climate change, and to expand our toolkit for a zero-emissions future.

Geoengineering technologies, such as solar radiation management (SRM), and negative emissions technologies, such as greenhouse gas removal (GGR), are emerging options to address climate change. This project will investigate the environmental, technical, social, legal, and policy dimensions of GGR and SRM. We provide an urgently needed interdisciplinary and holistic perspective of these technologies in order to understand conditions under which they might be deployed at scale. Our meta-analytical framework integrates insights from social science, engineering and physical science disciplines to provide a comprehensive view of GGR and SRM in the transition to climate neutrality in Europe and the world. The project will conduct excellent research and generate a robust, scientific assessment for evidence-based policymaking. Our research framework consists of three pillars—techno-economic systems, socio-technical systems, and systems of political action—within which we place six work packages (WPs). These are: (1) Understanding the current state and future potential of GGR and SRM technologies in terms of their technical and economic features; (2) Analysing bottlenecks in transitions to climate neutrality and their implications for deployment; (3) Identifying social acceptance and legitimacy constraints, (4) Learning, diffusion, and adoption; (5) Implications for Sustainable Development Goals of archetypical mitigation pathways; and 6) Policy options and governance. A crosscutting WP7 synthesizes research along three salient, but under-researched themes: A) Socio-technical change; B) Managing transition risks; and C) Political economy and feasibility of deployment. WP8 focuses on stakeholder engagement, entailing scenario co-design, science-policy dialogue formats, and specific outreach formats for target groups.

Find a project summary of GENIE here.

Publications

• Systematic Historical Analogue Research for Decision-making (SHARD): Introducing a new methodology for using historical case studies to inform low-carbon transitions, Energy Research & Social Science [Open access version]




• Industrial clusters for deep decarbonization: Net-zero megaprojects in the UK offer promise and lessons, Science




• Beyond climate stabilization: Exploring the perceived sociotechnical co-impacts of carbon removal and solar geoengineering, Ecological Economics




• Determining our climate policy future: expert opinions about negative emissions and solar radiation management pathways, Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change




• Undone Science in Climate Interventions: Contrasting and contesting anticipatory assessments by expert networks, Environmental Science & Policy




• Climate protection or privilege? A whole systems justice milieu of twenty negative emissions and solar geoengineering technologies, Political Geography




• Climate policy for a net-zero future: ten recommendations for Direct Air Capture, Environmental Research Letters




• Taking it outside: Exploring social opposition to 21 early-stage experiments in radical climate intervention, Energy Research & Social Science




• Rethinking Net-Zero systems, spaces, and societies: “Hard” versus “soft” alternatives for nature-based and engineered carbon removal, Global Environmental Change




• Risk-risk governance in a low-carbon future: Exploring institutional, technological, and behavioral tradeoffs in climate geoengineering pathways, Risk Analysis




• Between the Sun and Us: Expert perceptions on the innovation, policy, and deep uncertainties of space-based solar geoengineering, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews




• Navigating Potential Hype and Opportunity in Governing Marine Carbon Removal, Frontiers in Climate Negative Emissions Technologies




• Reckless or righteous? Reviewing the sociotechnical benefits and risks of climate change geoengineering, Energy Strategy Reviews

Contact us

If you would like to know more about the activities of the group, or if you would like to find out more about how to get involved please email us.

This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 951542)

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