Geoengineering is Just a Partial Solution to Fight Climate Change

Could we create massive sulfuric acid clouds that limit global warming and help meet the 2015 Paris international climate goals, while reducing unintended impacts?

Yes, in theory, according to a Rutgers co-authored study in the journal Earth System Dynamics. Spraying sulfur dioxide into the upper atmosphere at different locations, to form sulfuric acid clouds that block some solar radiation, could be adjusted every year to keep global warming at levels set in the Paris goals. Such technology is known as geoengineering or climate intervention.

But the regional impacts of geoengineering, including on precipitation and the Antarctic ozone layer hole, depend on how much greenhouse gas emissions from humanity are being reduced simultaneously. If carbon dioxide emissions from burning coal, oil and natural gas continue unabated, geoengineering would not prevent large decreases in precipitation and depletion of the life-sustaining ozone layer. If society launches massive efforts to reduce carbon emissions, remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and adapt to climate change, small doses of geoengineering may help reduce the most dangerous aspects of global warming, the study says.

“Our research shows that no single technology to combat climate change will fully address the growing crisis, and we need to stop burning fossil fuels and aggressively harness wind and solar energy to power society ASAP,” said co-author Alan Robock, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. “This mitigation is needed whether society ever decides to deploy geoengineering or not.”

Read more at Rutgers University

Image: Potential geoengineering methods for injecting sulfur dioxide into the upper atmosphere to create sulfuric acid clouds that limit global warming. (Credit: AGU/Brian West)