Climate engineering reconsidered

Subjects

Stratospheric injection of sulphate aerosols has been advocated as an emergency geoengineering measure to tackle dangerous climate change, or as a stop-gap until atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are reduced. But it may not prove to be the game-changer that some imagine.

Access options

Rent or Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

from$8.99

All prices are NET prices.

Figure 1: The ecological effects of solar radiation management using sulphate aerosols.

JLOKRANTZ/AZOTE

References

  1. 1

    IPCC Summary for Policymakers in Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis (eds Stocker, T. F. et al.) (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2013).

  2. 2

    Crutzen, P. J. Climatic Change 77, 211–219 (2006).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  3. 3

    Keith, D. W. A Case for Climate Engineering (Boston Review Books, 2013).

    Google Scholar 

  4. 4

    Vaughan, N. E. & Lenton, T. M. Climatic Change 109, 745–790 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. 5

    Robock, A. Bull. Atomos. Sci. 64, 14–18 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. 6

    Barrett, S. & Dannenberg, A. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 109, 17372–17376 (2012).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  7. 7

    Irvine, P. J., Sriver, R. L. & Keller, K. Nature Clim. Change 2, 97–100 (2012).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  8. 8

    Pongratz, J., Lobell, D. B., Cao, L. & Caldeira, K. Nature Clim. Change 2, 101–105 (2012).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  9. 9

    Gillett, N. P., Arora, V. K., Zickfeld, K., Marshall, S. J. & Merryfield, W. J. Nature Geosci. 4, 83–87 (2011).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  10. 10

    McCusker, K. E., Battisti, D. S. & Bitz, C. M. J. Clim. 25, 3096–3116 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. 11

    Irvine, P. J., Lunt, D. J., Stone, E. J. & Ridgwell, A. Environ. Res. Lett. 4, http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/4/4/045109 (2009).

  12. 12

    Scheffer, M. et al. Science 338, 344–348 (2012).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  13. 13

    Lenton, T. M. Nature Clim. Change 1, 201–209 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. 14

    Seidel, D. J., Feingold, G., Jacobson, A. R. & Loeb, N. Nature Clim.Change 4, 93–98 (2014).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  15. 15

    Rau, G. H., MacLeod, E. L. & Hoegh-Guldberg, O. Nature Clim. Change 2, 720–724 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. 16

    Kravitz, B. et al. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 118, 8320–8332 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics and the Global Economic Dynamics and the Biosphere program, both of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, supported the authors' collaboration.

Author information

Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Scott Barrett.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Barrett, S., Lenton, T., Millner, A. et al. Climate engineering reconsidered. Nature Clim Change 4, 527–529 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2278

Download citation

Further reading

Search

Quick links

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter for a daily update on COVID-19 science.
Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing