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CLIMATE CHANGE

Effects of climate engineering on agriculture

Nature Food volume 2, pages 320–321 (2021)Cite this article

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Climate engineering can alter the radiation budget in different ways than greenhouse gases and possibly benefit crop yields.

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 climate1. 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 many2 — 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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Ben Kravitz

  2. Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA

    Ben Kravitz

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  1. Ben Kravitz
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Correspondence to Ben Kravitz.

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Kravitz, B. Effects of climate engineering on agriculture. Nat Food 2, 320–321 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00277-x

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