Pascal Lamy to lead commission exploring how methods to tackle global heating could be governed
Countries must urgently agree a way of controlling and regulating attempts to geoengineer the climate, and consider whether to set a moratorium on such efforts, as the danger of global heating exceeding the 1.5C threshold increases, the former head of the World Trade Organisation has warned.
Pascal Lamy, a former director general of the WTO and a former EU trade commissioner, now president of the Paris Peace Forum, said governments were increasingly likely to explore the possibilities of geoengineering, as efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions have so far been inadequate.
“Given where we are, we have to seriously consider the risk of overshooting 1.5C,” said Lamy. “That is a huge risk. All of the ways by which we can alleviate this risk must be evaluated. I think a global effort on geoengineering could work.”
At present, there is little to stop a government experimenting with geoengineering. “There should be ways of stopping countries from doing this alone,” Lamy told the Guardian. “We should look at all options, including a moratorium.”