The European Union wants to ban the use of geoengineering because it could have bad consequences for the Earth’s climate. Scientists have been warning society about global warming for decades. But our society’s inability to move quickly enough from fossil fuels to clean energy requires finding unconventional ways to curb global warming.
Some people may ask, “Is geoengineering a miracle solution to climate change, ocean acidification and greenhouse gas removal?” Of course, answering this question can be difficult. While geoengineering may have its benefits, there are also many unknown consequences and risks associated with such measures.
Humanity has already reached a level of development where it is thinking about climate management on a global scale. In this way, we could restore what we used to be able to destroy with greenhouse gases.
However, the European Union wants to ban geoengineering. Officials fear that this could lead to a global catastrophe, compared to which climate warming is a trifle.
Changing the planet’s climate is not a new idea
In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson’s scientific advisory committee warned that the Earth’s reflectivity might need to be increased to offset rising greenhouse gas emissions. Tellingly, in this first-ever presidential report on the threat of climate change, the idea of reducing emissions did not seem worth mentioning.
Stanislaw Lem has already written about geoengineering in his book The Sum of Technologies. One of the first scientists to use the term geoengineering in the context of climate was Cesare Marchetti, who in 1977 proposed the idea of sequestering carbon dioxide in the oceans. In 1982, John Holdren, later a science advisor to President Barack Obama, used the term in an article on the opportunities and risks of climate intervention.
The term solar geoengineering first officially appeared in March 2017, when Harvard University announced that it was launching a new research programme related to solar geoengineering. This programme involves studying the effect of various substances emitted into the atmosphere on the reflection and scattering of sunlight.
The most famous example of natural solar geoengineering was the eruption of the Pinatubo volcano in the Philippines in the summer of 1991. At that time, about 20 million tonnes of sulphur dioxide were released into the atmosphere. By reflecting sunlight back into space, particles in the stratosphere helped reduce global temperatures by about 0.5°C over the next two years.
However, we need to realise that various forms of environmental manipulation have been used by humans for a long time. But this is the first time we are doing it on a global scale. Climate warming is the result of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, something that most scientists and the world community were not even aware of for some time. However, this is not the only example. Not so long ago it was found out that during the last 20 years people have pumped so much water out of the earth that the axis of rotation of our planet has shifted by 80 cm. Although, it is one thing to destroy the Earth by accident, and another to be able to control the climate on a global scale and be able to adapt it to your own needs.
Certainly, every advanced civilisation has such possibilities. The problem is that before humanity reaches such a stage of development, there may be little left of our Earth.
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So what is geoengineering?
Human activity causes significant damage to the environment. As a consequence, global warming is considered one of the biggest environmental problems of our time. Each new year breaks the temperature records of the previous one. And geoengineering, on which many hopes are pinned, may turn out to be a good idea.
Geoengineering is a set of technologies that aim to manipulate the environment and allow for climate change. Geoengineering projects fall into two main categories: carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and solar radiation management (SRM), also known as albedo modification or sunlight reflection.
Carbon dioxide removal involves cleaning the atmosphere of excess carbon dioxide, which is the main cause of global warming. Managing solar radiation involves scattering or reflecting a small portion of sunlight back into space to cool the planet.
Both of these methods have their advantages and disadvantages. Carbon dioxide removal is good for the environment but requires large financial and technological costs. Solar radiation management is cheaper and faster, but it carries many uncertainties and risks, such as the impact on the water cycle, weather, ecosystems and consequently on international politics.
Beyond that, there are many more ideas for geoengineering. These include what is known as enriching seawater with calcium hydroxide, which reduces the acidity of the oceans, which reduces pressure on marine organisms such as oysters, and absorbs CO2. And passive radiative cooling during the day, which increases the heat flux from Earth to space by installing heat-reflecting panels on its surface.
The very word “geoengineering” implies planetary-scale technologies. But some researchers have considered applying such technologies in localised ways, exploring different methods that could protect coral reefs, forests or glaciers.
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EU against geoengineering
The European Commission, which is the executive body of the European Union, plans to ban geoengineering on the territory of the EU. The reason for this decision is the fear of uncontrolled impact of such actions on people and nature. The Commission believes that geoengineering is not a solution to climate change, but only masks it. Instead, the Commission proposes to focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to a changing climate.
The ban on geoengineering will be introduced as part of the EU’s new 2050 climate strategy, which is expected to be announced in November 2023. The strategy must be in line with the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, which calls for keeping global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Clearly, there are open governance and ethical questions about who controls the Earth’s thermostat. In addition, research suggests that solar geoengineering will ultimately fail to solve the problem if high greenhouse gas emissions continue for more than a century.
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Geoengineering could be the cure
However, not everyone agrees with the European Commission’s plans. Some scientists and politicians argue that geoengineering can be a useful tool for climate change mitigation, especially if greenhouse gas emissions are not significantly reduced. They believe that banning geoengineering limits research and innovation in the field. In addition, scientists and climate experts are concerned that other countries or organisations may conduct geoengineering experiments without international approval or oversight.
Geoengineering is an ambiguous topic that raises a lot of emotions and questions. Is it a hope for salvation or a threat to humanity? Is it ethical or not? Is it necessary or not? The answers to these questions are not simple and straightforward. They require a broad and open debate involving scientists, policy makers, civil society and the media.
Research shows that by continuing to emit greenhouse gases, with or without geoengineering, humans are disrupting an incredibly complex system that can throw us climate surprises. One thing is clear – something about the threat of climate change needs to be done, and immediately, because the world as we know it might just disappear. The next generations may not forgive us for that.
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