At this event, panelists discussed the emergence of geoengineering as a policy option and the congressional hearings being held on the subject.

This event will discuss who should set the rules for geoengineering, What should those rules permit or forbid, and how should they be enforced.

For more than twenty years, policymakers have struggled to find ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough to stop global climate change. Congress is likely to enact federal climate legislation in 2009, but many scientists fear that emissions reductions may not occur quickly enough to prevent significant warming. Some scientists...

Though efforts to reduce global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have faltered, there do exist other climate policy options that may offer timely and relatively cheap methods for offsetting some of the harmful effects of climate change.

Despite great concern regarding the likely net negative effects of global warming in the long run, astonishingly little progress has been made to prevent such outcomes.

As the House plans to vote on the legislation, AEI energy and environmental scholars find many problematic elements within the proposed bill, and all note that this legislation consists, at its core, of a cap and trade program for greenhouse gases.

The Plundered Planet, by economist Paul Collier, offers a host of bold ideas regarding development economics and the environment, but ultimately fails to offer a convincing solution to climate change, as under current conditions, no such solution exists.

Emission controls are not going to have much impact until a new generation of vastly cheaper technologies becomes available and matures, but in the meantime, geoengineering may offer some help.