We worked with the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to carry out a public dialogue on geoengineering. The British Science Association, Dialogue by Design and Ipsos MORI made up the consortium that ran this process.

The public dialogue engaged with people in a number different ways, meetings with members of the public and scientists, events at science centres and an online survey. 

Geoengineering refers to large scale manipulation of the Earth's climate and has been proposed as a potential 'Plan B' or 'last resort' to reduce the impacts of global warming and reach the UK's target of cutting carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.

Carbon dioxide removal technologies could be used to take CO2 directly out of the air, or solar radiation management implemented to reflect the Sun's rays back into space and lower temperatures.

However the technologies are still uncertain and there are many social, ethical and environmental implications to consider.

Results from this public dialogue will then be used by NERC to help inform their research and funding strategy. 

Download the final report (pdf 868kb)

Download the summary of the findings (pdf 1.4MB)