On 15th July 2009 the Institute of Physics, The Royal Society of Chemistry and the Royal Academy of Engineering held a joint seminar at the House of Commons to explore approaches to managing climate change based on strategic engineering of the environment on a global scale.  The seminar, entitled Geoengineering: Challenges and global impacts,  focussed on several geoengineering proposals.  A report summarising the talks from this seminar has recently (mid-October 2009) been published.

Proposals discussed at the seminar included: a cloud-whitening strategy to reflect more solar radiation back into space and thus cool the planet, presented by Dr Alan Gadian, senior NCAS research scientist; a space-based scheme using mirrors to reflect sunlight away from the Earth, presented by Dr Dan Lunt from the University of Bristol;  methods for fixing atmospheric carbon by stimulating growth of marine algae, presented by Professor Andrew Watson from the University of East Anglia; and the social and political implications of attempting to implement such technologies were also discussed, presented by Professor Steve Rayner from the University of Oxford.

The published summary on the seminar: Geoengineering: Challenges and global impacts is now availabe to read.

For more information on Dr Alan Gadian's recent activities in this area, please see news item: NCAS Expert Speaks About Geoengineering