Published 2009

“Plans to address climate change increasingly include proposals for Geo-engineering projects,whose effects are likely to be global, at best only partly predictable, not necessarily wholly benign, and extend beyond their objective.

Geo-engineering proposals should receive detailed, precautionary scrutiny by the international community, which requires sophisticated international legal instruments and implementation systems.”

Article 195 poses a particularly difficult hurdle for Geo-engineering projects that seek to “mitigate climate change” by manipulating, affecting, or otherwise utilizing the marine environment and/or its processes in order to reduce the concentration in the atmosphere of CO2 and other GHG. Applied to the present context, Article 195 requires States not to transfer, directly (e.g., by injection) or indirectly (e.g., by fertilization), damage or hazards (e.g., excessive atmospheric GHG) from one area (the atmosphere) to another (the ocean) or transform one type of pollution (e.g., potentially harmful concentrations of GHG in the atmosphere) into another (e.g., potentially harmful concentrations of GHG in the ocean). Proponents of Geo-engineering projects must show why such projects do not violate Article 195.”