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For the first time, the European Union has stepped into the highly contentious debate on geoengineering, a controversial technology that involves manipulating the weather to combat climate change.
The European Commission will on Wednesday call for an international effort to assess “the risks and uncertainties of climate interventions, including altering solar radiation,” and look at how they could be implemented globally, according to a draft document seen by the Financial Times. Supervision.
The announcement would be the first official acknowledgment by a national or regional governing body of growing interest in a science that essentially involves interfering with weather patterns to cool the planet.
One of the most controversial techniques is a process called stratospheric aerosol injection, which involves flying vehicles at an altitude of about 20 kilometers to 25 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, ejecting micron-sized particles that reflect sunlight.
No aircraft has been built capable of carrying such a load at that altitude. But the process has been calculated to produce similar results to volcanic eruptions, such as the cloud of material from the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, which resulted in a 0.3 to 0.5 degree Celsius drop in global average temperatures over the next two years. United Nations Environment Programme.
Other methods being investigated include thinning cirrus clouds to allow more infrared light to leave the atmosphere, and launching parasols into space.
The EU text, which is not legally binding and could still be subject to revisions before publication, shows the extent of human concern about not being able to keep global warming within the limits of the 1.5C target.
Geoengineering, which can also refer to carbon capture and storage, is being scaled up as a means of removing emissions from the air.
All of these methods are still in the embryonic stages of development and remain unregulated. An effort led by Switzerland and backed by a dozen countries including Mexico, Burkina Faso and South Korea passed a resolution at the United Nations Environment Assembly to assess geoengineering techniques, but it failed in 2019.
In its latest report on so-called “solar radiation management,” which includes different techniques for adjusting the sun’s rays, the United Nations Environment Program described the technology as the “only” way to cool the planet in the short term.
However, the authors warn that several factors, including the cost of “potentially tens of billions of dollars per 1C of cooling per year,” make medium-to-large-scale deployments “unwise.”
The report warns that disruptions to the natural climate around the globe could damage the ozone layer, redistribute the impact of climate change across ecosystems, lead to geopolitical tensions that, if stopped suddenly, could lead to a sudden relapse in global warming, which would be more severe Serious and more dangerous.
Scientists are also keen to emphasize that weather-altering technologies should not undercut overall efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Matthias Honegger, a senior research fellow at the Prospective Climate Research Centre, said that if a country decides to adopt ways to alter the sun’s rays, it can do so “within a few years”, which is “why so Valuing a quick study on this” “.
The guiding principle of the current research is “you need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it is not extremely dangerous”. He added that it was “unfortunate” that the committee was only focusing on potential risks. . . When (its) raison d’être is to limit the harm and suffering caused by worsening climate impacts”.
The committee declined to comment on the draft document.
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