By Chloé Farand, 17 May 2022
The Climate Overshoot Commission will explore controversial options to cope with global heating in excess of the 2C Paris limit
Three former presidents, one former prime minister and six former ministers are among 16 leaders tasked with exploring options for reducing the risks of overshooting global temperature goals.
The Climate Overshoot Commission launched on Tuesday with a majority of members from developing countries.
It will address sensitive questions around the ethics and feasibility of ways to reverse warming. These include large-scale removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and geoengineering technologies that could cool the planet by reflecting sunlight for example.
In a press release, the commission said that research indicates that “if these options supplemented emissions cuts and were governed well, they could help ward off harms to people and the planet”.
Commissioners will also consider the extensive adaptations needed to protect the vulnerable in a hotter world.
“All of us would prefer not to confront the consequences of insufficient action. To be clear, the primary strategy is and should remain the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions,” said the group’s chair Pascal Lamy, president of the Paris Peace Forum and former director general of the World Trade Organization.