Copenhagen Consensus - Climate Change Project

Climate Change Project

In 2009, the Copenhagen Consensus established a Climate Change Project specifically to examine solutions to climate change. The process was similar to the 2004 and 2008 Copenhagen Consensus, involving papers by specialists considered by an expert panel of economists. The panel ranked 15 solutions, of which the top 5 were:

  1. Research into marine cloud whitening (involving ships spraying sea-water into clouds so as to reflect more sunlight and thereby reduce temperatures)
  2. Technology-led policy response
  3. Research into stratospheric aerosol injection (involving injected ?sulphur dioxide into the upper atmosphere to reduce sunlight)
  4. Research into carbon storage
  5. Planning for adaptation

The benefits of the number 1 solution are that if the research proved successful this solution could be deployed relatively cheaply and quickly. Potential problems include environmental impacts e.g. from changing rainfall patterns.

Measures to cut carbon and methane emissions, such as carbon taxes, came bottom of the results list, partly because they would take a long time to have much effect on temperatures.

Read more about this topic:  Copenhagen Consensus

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