The Emergent Politics of Geoengineering

Geoengineering - the large scale, intentional intervention into natural systems in order to manipulate the global climate - used to be a taboo topic amongst climate change researchers and in the political sphere. Within just a few years however, geoengineering left the fringes of scientific inquiry and became a policy option frequently mentioned alongside the more traditional approaches of climate change mitigation and adaptation. What caused this sudden shift in mindset? Why are some geoengineering technologies now presented as necessary procedures by international organisations such as the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC)? And why are governments supporting research for these types of technologies, although they were formally considered too dangerous for public morale to even be mentioned? In this thesis, I aim to answer this research puzzle by looking at scientists, governments, NGOs and businesses involved in the geoengineering policy field; the development of the geoengineering knowledge network over time; and the way in which relations and interactions between various types of organisations have enabled the technological approach to become salient.