Climate engineering – Potential & Concerns

Source-This post on climate engineering -Potential & Concerns has been created based on the article “Climate engineering carries serious national security risks — countries facing extreme heat may try it anyway, and the world needs to be prepared” published in “Down to Earth” on 5 April 2024.

UPSC Syllabus-GS Paper-3– Conservation, Environmental Pollution and Degradation, Environmental Impact Assessment.

Context- African countries have called for a moratorium on climate engineering at the recently held United Nations Environment Assembly in March 2024. Further, nations like United States have highlighted the need for scientific group to undertake studies regarding potential risks and benefits of Climate engineering.

What is the negative impact of climate change?

1) Heat records are routinely broken.
2) Wildfire seasons have become more extreme.
3) There has been an increase in the strength of Hurricane.
4) Due to rise in sea level, small islands national and coastal areas are submerging.
5) Climate change can pose a threat to food and energy security. This may lead to climate-induced migration and can threaten the security of any nation.

What is climate engineering?

Description-It is a set of proposed actions to deliberately change the climate. It is also called geoengineering, sunlight reduction methods or solar climate intervention.

Strategy–

1) It will mimic the cooling effects of large volcanic eruptions by placing large amounts of reflective particles in the atmosphere.
2) It will make low clouds over the ocean brighter. This would reflect a small amount of sunlight back to space to cool the planet.

What can be the potential advantages of climate engineering?

1) Preventing temperature rise-Activities like fossil fuel use and industrialization are currently emitting 37 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually. However, existing carbon dioxide removal projects that includes growing trees and direct air capture devices remove only 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide. Thus, it may take a long time to achieve the target of Net Zero emissions. Climate engineering may help in the interim.

2) Climate Modification – It can allow countries with increasingly dangerous heat waves to cause deliberate cooling. For ex- Australia is currently exploring the feasibility of rapidly cooling the Great Barrier Reef to prevent its demise.

What are the concerns associated with climate engineering?

1) Regional conflicts-The climate doesn’t respect national borders. So, a climate engineering project in one country may affect temperature and rainfall in neighboring countries. The countries may blame climate engineering for extreme events such as hurricanes, floods and droughts without any scientific evidence.

2) Endanger interest of poor countries– Climate change can leave the poorest regions most vulnerable to harm, and climate engineering should not accentuate that harm. Poorer countries may get negatively impacted by climate engineering solutions of rich countries.

3) High Cost – Building a fleet of airplanes to carry megatons of reflective particles into the stratosphere each year is a very costly process. It will be difficult to get funding for this scientific project.

4) Limitation of climate models – Current information about climate engineering relies heavily on climate models. However,they cannot address questions of geopolitics and conflict.

Climate engineering may provide solutions to the challenges posed by climate change.Nevertheless,there is a need for more research that may help policy makers to make informed decisions.

Question for practice

Highlight the potential of climate engineering for addressing climate change. What are the concerns associated with widespread adoption of climate engineering?