Articles
A major study into the viability and possible effects of geoengineering technologies has found that uncertainty about their effectiveness means attempts to curb CO2 emissions should not be abated.
Geoengineering, or “climate engineering” is the use of techniques and technologies to either absorb CO2 or reflect solar radiation back into space.
Scientists and engineers have suggested dozens of different global scale technologies could be employed to mitigate the temperature rising effects of climate change, from
artificial trees and volcanoes to
giant reflective mirrors.
The two year European Transdisciplinary Assessment of Climate Engineering (Eutrace) project reviewed research to focus on three main geoengineering techniques: fertilising the oceans with iron, injecting aerosols into the stratosphere and capturing the carbon from the combustion of bio-energy sources.
It found that it is at present unclear if any of the techniques could be scaled up sufficiently to significantly reduce climate change, or if the effects on societies and the environment would do more damage than good.
Professor Mark Lawrence, project coordinator of Eutrace and scientific director of the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam, Germany, said: “It is important to understand the possibilities and problems associated with climate engineering proposals, in order to make decisions on them in a responsible manner.
“It would be irresponsible, based on all we know so far, to expect climate engineering to significantly contribute to solving the problem of climate change in the next several decades. We will only be able to limit the effects of climate change if all states commit to drastically reducing their CO2emissions, at the Climate Summit in Paris and beyond, following through on that commitment in the years thereafter.”
The study also highlighted the lack of an “international treaty body” to regulate geoengineering and suggested European countries should reach an agreement on the merits of various geoengineering techniques.
Eutrace, which was funded by a €1 million EU grant, involved 14 different academic institutions, including the Universities of Bristol, Exeter, Edinburgh and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.