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Climate: geoengineering

State of Play:

As the threat of climate change has gone from theoretical to apparent, proposals for a more aggressive attempt at mitigation through geoengineering have gained currency in some scientific corners, drawn skepticism or outright opposition in others. Prospects for geoengineering would likely improve in inverse proportion to prospects for nations to hit their emissions targets to slow, then reverse the warming of the planet. 

What is geoengineering?

Geoengineering is manipulation of natural ecosystem processes to achieve a particular result. In the context of climate change, geoengineering has been proposed to lessen the effects of solar radiation and counterbalance global warming caused by growing concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Two commonly discussed geoengineering techniques are:

  • stratospheric aerosol injection, which would distribute aerosols, tiny particles with reflecting qualities, into the upper atmosphere.
  • marine cloud brightening, which would require spraying sea salt into low-lying marine clouds to enhance their reflective qualities.

In contrast to these solar geoengineering proposals, a third proposal would depend on technologies to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, lowering its heating-absorbing properties.

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