On the need for a global engineering initiative to mitigate climate change

There is growing scientific evidence that the continued emission of greenhouse gases will eventually lead to catastrophic irreversible climate change and that, therefore, a global effort needs to be started to transition to a fully renewable economy. In this article, the engineering challenges of converting to emission-free power generation are reviewed and the feasibility of two proposed solutions, i.e. the ‘wind–water–solar’ and the ‘energy ship’ proposals, are discussed. It is concluded that a well-conceived and executed engineering effort needs to be initiated and guided by a Global Engineering Council for the purpose of examining and ranking various proposals and making specific recommendations