All this investment in research starts paying off.

We’ve developed a technology that we think will allow us to engineer the climate and solve global warming once and for all.

There is some risk that something will go wrong. We could spend a few more years doing research to improve the chances that it won’t, but we also can’t afford to wait much longer.

Should we try a solar geoengineering solution now, or do more research?

• Let’s keep talking about it for a few more years.
• Let’s give it a go.

Solar geoengineering is a proposed group of technologies that aim to reflect more sunlight away from the earth to cool the climate. These include ideas like injecting sulphur aerosols into the stratosphere, brightening the clouds above the ocean, or even deploying space mirrors. None of these technologies are ready for deployment (in 2021). Research suggests that solar geoengineering could reduce temperatures, but it could also introduce some big new risks, like disrupting rainfall in major food-producing regions. Solar geoengineering has been called a stopgap measure because it does not reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the underlying driver of climate change. It treats the symptoms rather than curing the underlying condition. Solar geoengineering is highly controversial, with some people arguing more research should be done on these technologies, and others saying that tampering even more with our climate system is too risky.