Carbon Removal and Solar Geoengineering: Potential implications for delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals

The report examines how Carbon Removal and Solar Geoengineering might interact with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. It finds that at least 13 of the 17 SDGs would be affected by these technologies, with at least 9 facing significant risks. While these interventions could mitigate some climate-driven threats to development, they introduce novel physical, socio-economic, and political risks, including land-use conflicts, water scarcity, and international political tensions. The authors emphasize substantial knowledge gaps and call for transdisciplinary, geographically diverse research and robust global governance to ensure such technologies do not hinder sustainable development.

• Deployment of Carbon Removal and Solar Geoengineering is expected to affect at least 13 out of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with at least 9 of these goals facing potential risks.
• Solar Geoengineering presents high uncertainties and risks, including the potential for a 'termination shock' where temperatures rise rapidly if deployment is suddenly stopped, and uneven regional impacts on precipitation.
• Large-scale Carbon Removal, particularly Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), could cause severe land-use conflicts, potentially displacing food production on approximately one-third of current global cropland.
• Both technology groups could negatively impact human health through the production and dispersal of airborne particles, potentially causing respiratory problems and affecting the ozone layer.
• The deployment of these technologies could create significant political tensions and governance challenges, particularly regarding the attribution of extreme weather events and the equitable sharing of costs and control.
• Carbon Removal technologies are often characterized by high costs and energy intensity, which may create opportunity costs by diverting public funding from other poverty-alleviation or development priorities.
• There is a critical lack of geographical diversity in current research, which is primarily led by institutions in the global North, risking biases that overlook the interests and conditions of the global South.

APA

Honegger, M., Derwent, H., Harrison, N., Michaelowa, A., & Schäfer, S. (2018). Carbon Removal and Solar Geoengineering: Potential implications for delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals. Climate Strategies. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/C2G2-Geoeng-SDGs_FINAL-REPORT.pdf

Chicago

Honegger, Matthias, Henry Derwent, Nicholas Harrison, Axel Michaelowa, and Stefan Schäfer. Carbon Removal and Solar Geoengineering: Potential implications for delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals. Climate Strategies, 2018. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/C2G2-Geoeng-SDGs_FINAL-REPORT.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Honegger |first1=Matthias |last2=Derwent |first2=Henry |last3=Harrison |first3=Nicholas |last4=Michaelowa |first4=Axel |last5=Schäfer |first5=Stefan |title=Carbon Removal and Solar Geoengineering: Potential implications for delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals |publisher=Climate Strategies |date=May 2018 |url=https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/C2G2-Geoeng-SDGs_FINAL-REPORT.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{honegger2018carbon, author = {Honegger, Matthias and Derwent, Henry and Harrison, Nicholas and Michaelowa, Axel and Schäfer, Stefan}, title = {{Carbon Removal and Solar Geoengineering: Potential implications for delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals}}, institution = {Climate Strategies}, year = {2018}, month = may, url = {https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/C2G2-Geoeng-SDGs_FINAL-REPORT.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }