Effects of climate engineering on agriculture

[Geoeng Info]

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-021-00277-x

Effects of climate engineering on agriculture

Ben Kravitz


Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to halt climate change has thus far been slow and difficult. Worried about the rapidly worsening effects of climate change, scientists and policy makers have been increasingly discussing climate engineering technologies able to temporarily and deliberately modify the climate. Ideas like injecting a layer of tiny sulfur droplets into the stratosphere, brightening low clouds over the ocean, or thinning heat-trapping cirrus clouds, have never been tested at climate-altering scales in the real world. Climate models indicate that climate engineering, if carefully done, could reduce the damaging effects of climate change for many — but with possible side effects, some of which cannot be predicted. The risks of climate engineering need to be weighed against the risks of climate change to inform decision makers in the coming decades.