Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Originally published in Science Express on 6 August 2009
Science 21 August 2009:
Vol. 325. no. 5943, pp. 955 - 956
DOI: 10.1126/science.1178530
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Perspectives

Climate Change:

Risks of Climate Engineering

Gabriele C. Hegerl1 and Susan Solomon2

As the risks of climate change and the difficulty of effectively reducing greenhouse gas emissions become increasingly obvious, potential geoengineering solutions are widely discussed. For example, in a recent report, Blackstock et al. explore the feasibility, potential impact, and dangers of shortwave climate engineering, which aims to reduce the incoming solar radiation and thereby reduce climate warming (1). Proposed geoengineering solutions tend to be controversial among climate scientists and attract considerable media attention (2, 3). However, by focusing on limiting warming, the debate creates a false sense of certainty and downplays the impacts of geoengineering solutions.

1 Grant Institute, Kings Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JW, UK.
2 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Earth System Research Laboratory, 325 Broadway R/CSD, Boulder, CO 80305–3337, USA.

E-mail: gabi.hegerl{at}ed.ac.uk; susan.solomon{at}noaa.gov

Read the Full Text

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)