Constructing Legitimacy in Geoengineering Discourse: The Politics of Representation in Science Policy Literature

ABSTRACT

Geoengineering, the idea of addressing climate change through large-scale technological projects, is a unique example of a contested emerging technology. It stands out in the degree to which both its scope of possibilities and its premise are characterized by global existential risks. Despite controversy due to inherent and perceived risks, this field has been shifting toward mainstream consideration. Geoengineering science policy reports reflect this shift and influence the subsequent trajectory of research and potential deployment. The two most notable geoengineering policy reports are those by the Royal Society in 2009 and the National Research Council (NRC) in 2015. Discursive strategies recurrent in these reports construct notions of legitimacy and normalcy in regard to geoengineering. These strategies include relative legitimation of actors and approaches, differentiating research from deployment, elevating particular geoengineering methods through comparative evaluation, and normalizing novel geoengineering proposals through analogy. These strategies are present in both the benchmark geoengineering policy reports, with a deepening and entrenchment evident in the later NRC report. Together, these discursive strategies promote the legitimization of geoengineering research.

KEYWORDS:

• Geoengineering
• climate change
• science policy discourse
• National Academy of Sciences
• Royal Society
• solar radiation management

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the participants of the 2015 Workshop on the Changing Political Economy of Research and Innovation for thoughtful comments on an early stage of this research, the editors and anonymous reviewers from this journal for valuable suggestions, Charles Thorpe for insightful advice and recommendations, and Addie Jacobson for feedback and encouragement.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Brynna Jacobson is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, San Diego. Her research interests are environmental sociology, political economy, and sociology of law. Her dissertation project is entitled ‘Geoengineering's Move from Margins to Mainstream: The Politics of Representation and the Construction of Legitimacy.'