The Wickedness and Complexity of Decision Making in Geoengineering

Yanzhu Zhang and Alfred Posch
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Yanzhu Zhang: Institute of Systems Sciences, Innovation and Sustainability Research, University of Graz, Graz 8010, Austria
Alfred Posch: Institute of Systems Sciences, Innovation and Sustainability Research, University of Graz, Graz 8010, Austria

Challenges, 2014, vol. 5, issue 2, 1-19

Abstract: Geoengineering, the deliberate large-scale manipulation of the planetary environment to counteract anthropogenic climate change, has been more widely considered as an accompanying strategy to conventional climate change mitigation measures to combat global warming. However, this approach is far from achieving agreements from different institutional domains. Geoengineering, intended to be deployed on a planetary scale, would cause fundamental interventions to the human-environment system and create new risks and problems with high uncertainty and uneven distribution around the globe. Apart from the physical effects, conflicting attitudes appear from social, economic, and environmental worldviews in the international community. The intertwined sociotechnical complexity and conflicting attitudes make geoengineering a wicked and complex issue. This article elaborates the wickedness and complexity from a system perspective, primarily for an interdisciplinary, policy-oriented audience.

Keywords: geoengineering; earth system; human-environment system; interventions; feedback loops; wickedness; complexity; decision making (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A00 C00 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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