The complex web of science and politics in climate change adaptation - A case of climate engineering and climate migration

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K20022
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 64060:Environmental policy and social systems-related
• Research Institution: National Institute for Environmental Studies
• Principal Investigator: Asayama Shinichiro 国立研究開発法人国立環境研究所, 社会システム領域, 主任研究員 (50726908)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 気候変動 / 気候工学 / 気候移住 / 避難管理 / 太陽放射改変 / IPCC / リスク管理

Outline of Final Research Achievements

As the adverse effects of climate change have become more apparent, the significance of adaptation to minimise the damage from climate change has grown recently. However, due to the slow pace of mitigation, there is an emerging political debate about how to deal with the 'residual risks' of climate change impacts that cannot be addressed within the scope of conventional adaptation approaches. This study looked at two unconventional climate responses - climate engineering and climate migration - which have been excluded from mainstream policy debates given their controversial nature, and examined how they can be characterised as climate change responses in the broader context of adaptation. It was found that climate migration has now been increasingly framed as part of (or an extension of) adaptation strategies, using the term 'managed retreat', and that both climate engineering and climate migration have been reconsidered within the framework of 'climate risk management'.

Free Research Field

環境政策、科学技術社会論

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の意義は、論争的な性格ゆえにこれまで政策枠組みから排除されてきた、気候工学と気候移住の二つの対応策について、その特徴と実施に伴うリスクを明らかにし、これまで個別に議論されてきた両者をともに気候リスク管理という共通の枠組みで捉え直したことにある。気候変動の被害が今後さらに拡大し、従来の緩和策・適応策という枠を超えた新たな対応策が必要とされうる中で、気候工学と気候移住という政治的に難しいテーマについての議論を提起したことは、例えば、今後の気候変動に関する政府間パネル（IPCC）での科学アセスメントでこれら対応策の是非を検討する際に参照点となりうる課題を浮き彫りしたことに意義がある。