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Megatrends, emerging issues and outlooks


4.2.3 Geoengineering or climate intervention


These technologies and actions are meant to counter the possibly very extreme climate changes that could have catastrophic effects. There are two broad approaches to geoengineering, the first being albedo modification or reflectance of solar radiation away from the earth and back towards space. These potential modifications have poorly understood risks, particularly at the global scales needed for effective climate modification. Volcanic eruptions are the closest natural analogue. The second approach is through carbon dioxide removal or sequestration from the atmosphere. Figure 4.2.1 illustrates these processes/ technologies.


was created to realize the ambitious goal of capturing 10


BECCS more effective and efficient, along with improved crop resistance to climate impacts. The Global CO2


It is difficult to anticipate all of the potential uses and consequences of these novel biotechnologies. But in adapting to climate change, several possibilities include enhanced conversion of CO2


by plants and algae in a way that makes Initiative


per cent of global CO2 emissions and transforming it into valuable products (CO2


Sciences Inc. 2016). Pursuant to this


privately-led effort, announced at Davos on January 21, 2016 are planned to be funded at USD 100M/year for 10 years.


4.2.4 Nanotechnology


The 1996 Nobel Prize for Chemistry was awarded for the discovery of fullerenes. Although this research had been going on well before the award of the prize, this public notice confirmed the importance of nanotechnology. Since then, governments around the world have provided significant funding for nanotechnology research; the US National Nanotechnology Initiative (US NNI 2015a) has had a cumulative research budget of more than US$20 billion since 2001. Nanotechnology is not just a field for research, but application can be found throughout the economy.


Current estimates of revenues from nano-enabled products in the energy and environment areas are more than USD 19 billion in 2013 and more than USD 28 billion in 2014 (Flynn et al. 2014). Nanotechnology and nanomaterials


Case study Box 4.2.1: Nanotechnology and the environment


Development of nanomaterial products and technologies is projected to grow exponentially over the next decade. As yet, however, there is only a limited understanding of how this will impact aquatic ecosystems; a whole-lake nano-silver addition experiment was conducted at the Experimental Lakes Area in Ontario from 2013–2014. This experiment makes a unique contribution to the effort by the OECD working party on manufactured nanomaterials to evaluate their risks to the environment (WPMN 2007). The whole-lake experiment aims to characterize the techniques, procedures and policies that must be developed to assess changes in ecosystem function associated with the release of nanoparticles to the environment. Adequate research to identify potential health risks for humans from the ingestion of nanomaterials is also yet to be done. This is another example of how other drivers and pressures besides those relating to ecological health are pushing the development and use of novel technologies. This could include unintended consequences in regions where, for example, water stress is an increasingly serious concern (Trent University 2015).


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