There are a couple of forthcoming SRM/CDR papers, which will show that you get a free CDR 'kicker' on SRM projects. I expect that ocean cooling, NPP, etc. will play a part in this.
This will potentially result in a slight opportunity / crisis for the geoengineering community. There's already an established market for carbon credits, and such papers will show that you can (theoretically at least) get these credits legitimately, and probably at much lower cost, through SRM schemes. We are potentially entering a situation where any entrepreneur with a fogger or a high altitude balloon can go around offering to make some carbon credits. This might lead to a split in the carbon credit market, between 'organic' (CDR /abatement) and 'factory farmed' (SRM) carbon credits. Some consumers may not care much about the differences, and others may be unhappy to pay the extra costs. This will also lead to a whole set of knock on issues for the SRM community, like : *Do we need to worry about lots of small SRM projects? *How would individual projects be regulated? Nobody wants a burst balloon in their garden, or their island permanently shrouded in fog. *How would the sector be regulated in aggregate. We can't risk large scale effects, such as termination shock, or moving the ITCZ. *How will the carbon reduction be verified? *What will happen if CDR figures are later revised downwards? Will buyers be entitled to a refund? This potential democratisation of SRM strikes me as one of the most important developments in the field since its inception. I'd be interested to hear people's views on the risks / opportunities. The choice of stance would seem to be as follows : 1) Preemptive campaign for a ban 2) Reactive campaign for a ban 3) Reactive campaign for a temporary embargo 4) Campaign for a limit on total forcing 5) Campaign for a project specific approval and/or verification process 6) Do nothing 7) Establish a non-profit-making 'proof of concept' operator in the market 8) Act as a profit-making entrepreneur I'd value further discussion and opinions. Andrew Lockley -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
