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On Friday, the White House released a federally mandated report on solar geoengineering, an umbrella term that describes ways to reflect sunlight away from Earth to cool the atmosphere.
The Biden-Harris administration has no plans under way to launch a comprehensive research program into solar radiation modulation, according to a senior administration official.
But the report also says there is good sense for a coherent research agenda on the topic.
“These unknowns, and the ever-evolving understanding of Earth’s complex systems, provide a compelling case for research to better understand the potential benefits and risks,” the report says.
The report comes from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and was produced to fulfill a congressional mandate included in the Uniform Appropriations Act passed in 2022, which required the White House to develop a “research governance framework to provide guidance on transparency, participation, and risk management for sector-funded businesses.” year in solar geoengineering research.
“Risks vs. Risks”
For decades, solar radiation modding has been relegated to the realm of science fiction. But as the effects of climate change become more visible and severe, some argue that climate intervention may be less dangerous than the global warming that could occur without it.
Heat discount worth mitigating – Often called the “silent killer” – But managing solar radiation won’t address other impacts of climate change, such as ocean acidification or air pollution.
The White House report focuses on two approaches to solar geoengineering.
Stratospheric aerosol injection Particles of sulfur dioxide or another substance are released into the upper atmosphere to reflect sunlight away from Earth. Brightening the marine cloud It aims to improve the reflectivity of some clouds by injecting sea salt or through other methods.
Fragmented research on solar radiation modulation is already underway at federal science agencies, and research on topics such as volcanic action and cloud and aerosol interactions could provide useful background knowledge.
Volcanic eruptions and large plumes of wildfire smoke provide a natural counterpart to stratospheric aerosol injection. Ship tracks, which are clouds that form around ship exhaust, show the marine cloud radiance theory.
But research on solar radiation management is limited and uncoordinated, leaving significant gaps. Having a research plan would help the United States prepare for the deployment of solar radiation modification by another government or private agency.
This diagram shows the different forms that solar geoengineering can take. Courtesy: Chelsea Thompson, NOAA/CIRES.
Chelsea Thompson, NOAA/CIRES
Solar radiation management has the benefit of being rapid. “SRM offers the potential to dramatically cool the planet on a time scale of a few years,” the report says.
But it also carries plenty of unknown risks — what the White House report called “known unknowns.”
Injecting aerosols into the stratosphere can accelerate ozone depletion and reduce biodiversity, for example. Other unknowns include potential changes in precipitation patterns, sea level rise, terrestrial vegetation, coral reefs, crop production, and other changes in the ecosystem. It can also harm human health by increasing particulate matter, for example.
It is in this context, which the White House report calls for a “risks vs. risks” framing, that solar geoengineering will be studied in an effort to determine the specific risks involved in deploying it versus not deploying it.
For example, allowing warming to continue without managing solar radiation may result in more human deaths from extreme heat, but this must be weighed against the health risks of more particles in the air.
Crucially, solar radiation modulation is not a permanent solution. The only real solution to mitigate the effects of climate change is by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The report from the White House says that the research agenda in modifying solar radiation will be along with “essential elements of mitigation and adaptation to greenhouse gas emissions.”
Also on Wednesday, the European Union formally addressed solar geoengineering, saying it is not a solution to climate and that not enough is understood about these interventions to be deployed.
Like the US, the EU also says solar geoengineering is not a solution to climate, and says the current level of understanding of the implications of such interventions is not enough to deploy them.
“In the current state of development, deliberate interference with the Earth’s natural systems, such as the deployment of solar radiation modulation (SRM), represents an unacceptable level of risk for humans and the environment,” The European Commission said in documents released on Wednesday.
However, the EU also said it would support collective international research on the topic.
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