IPCC Working Group III

[Sam Carana]

Dr. Pachauri said in his response to our letter that geoengineering
will be included for consideration in the IPCC's Fifth Assessment
Report, as a mitigation option.

According to the official website, the IPCC Working Group III assesses
options for mitigating climate change, through limiting or preventing
greenhouse gas emissions, and through enhancing activities that remove
them from the atmosphere. However, what we have called solar radiation
management (SRM) is yet to be included.
http://www.ipcc.ch/working_groups/working_groups.htm

I just wonder if anyone of the geoengineering group here has been
invited to join this IPCC working group III? If the IPCC is still in
the process of setting the terms of references, then there may still
be an opportunity for people from this group to give some input, such
as on the need for action in the immediate future. On the other hand,
if nobody has been approached by the IPCC, then perhaps we should make
some suggestions, such as to amend the definition of the group to
include SRM?

Cheers!
Sam Carana

[Andrew Lockley]

SRM is a way of mitigating methane releases by keeping permafrost frosty.  It is possible that failing to do this urgently could send us over the edge, as the excursion of methane, and the extant reservoirs are very poorly understood.  The paleoclimatic record suggests that such methane excursions are associated with catastrophic climate change.

I therefore strongly support Sam's point below.  Bearing in mind that the IPCC proceeds significantly more slowly than a basally-lubricated glacier, we need to be getting SRM for methane control into the review cycle for AR5, rather than risking waiting for AR6.

In practical terms, what can be done to push this?

A

PS Merry Xmas.

2009/12/25 Sam Carana <sam.c...@gmail.com>

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[John Nissen]

Happy Christmas,

It would be good to get SRM into the official IPCC activities, as soon as possible.  I'll put that to Dr Pachauri, as well as asking him about a special task force.  It would be good to see some significant progress in 2010 towards doing what unfortunately has to be done urgently because of the mess that we're in.

Cheers,

John

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