"A Search for Rules Before Climate-Changing Experiments Begin"

"Responding to renewed interest in geoengineering schemes to combat global warming, scientists and policymakers are beginning several efforts that could set new ground rules for research, including large-scale field experiments.

Last week, a committee in Britain's House of Commons began an inquiry to determine whether developing and deploying geoengineering methods will require new British or international regulations. The U.K. panel is cooperating with an American counterpart, the House Science and Technology Committee, which which is planning its own hearings this year on scientific, engineering, ethical, economic and governance aspects of the emerging field.

Meanwhile, a group of scientists will meet in California this spring to attempt to set guidelines for large-scale field tests of proposed geoengineering techniques, which range from employing artificial trees to suck carbon dioxide from the air to spewing massive amounts of sulfate particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect sunlight."

Lauren Morello reports for ClimateWire January 18, 2010.