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Even as Congress considers the Waxman-Markey greenhouse gas control bill, the conflicts that have blocked all previous efforts to curb emissions are again surfacing in the ongoing United Nations climate talks. Many experts have concluded that the world needs a backup strategy--geoengineering--should attempts to limit emissions continue to make little or no progress.

Geoengineering, or "climate engineering," involves blocking a small fraction of the sunlight that would otherwise warm the Earth's surface. While the concept is still in its infancy, many scientists believe that it deserves serious research. Yet it also raises other, entirely new, questions. Climate engineering could be so inexpensive that a single nation, acting alone, could cool the entire planet. In doing so, it would change other nations' climates, perhaps in unpredictable ways. Who, then, should set the rules? What should those rules permit or forbid? How should they be enforced?

At this event, Scott Barrett of Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies will present a working paper entitled "Geoengineering's Role in Climate Change Policy." Responding will be Bryan D. Caplan of George Mason University and Nobel laureate Thomas C. Schelling of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy. AEI's Lee Lane will moderate. This event is part of AEI's Geoengineering Project.