GS Paper 3
Syllabus: Environment and Conservation/ Science and Technology- Developments and their Applications and Effects in Everyday Life.
Source: DTE
Context: The US is eyeing a controversial tool to counter global warming: Solar geoengineering.
What is Solar geoengineering?
- Solar geoengineering, also referred to as solar radiation management (SRM) describes a set of proposed approaches to reflect sunlight (back to space) to rapidly cool the Earth.
- Within solar geoengineering, researchers are considering two main approaches.
Different SRM methods:
- Stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI): It involves injecting tiny reflecting particles, known as aerosols, into the upper atmosphere to cool the planet.
- Marine cloud brightening (MCB): It would use sea salt to stimulate cloud formation over the ocean, which would also help reflect sunlight in the region.
Why is solar geoengineering being considered?
- The Paris Agreement’s target requires limiting global temperature increase well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C.
- For this, nations need to bring net global CO2 emissions to zero by no later than mid-century.
- Despite these ambitious goals, solar geoengineering is being considered to prepare for the possibility that global efforts may fall short.
The USA’s plan:
- The White House stated that public or private actors could carry out activities such as injecting aerosols and MCB to reflect more sunlight into space.
- It called for research to enable better-informed decisions about the potential risks and benefits of the tool as part of its climate policy, in addition to mitigation and adaptation.
- This comes amid concerns raised by the experts over the high environmental (changes in precipitation patterns, ozone amounts, sea-level rise, ocean acidification, etc), social, and geopolitical risks that come with SRM.
Solar geoengineering risks:
- Moral hazard: The danger is that the technology will become an excuse to slow emissions reductions and stop moving toward a low-carbon economy.
- Little is known about its impacts: Research to scope the risks and potential of solar geoengineering has mostly been conducted through computer-based modelling and natural observations (volcanic eruption).
Way ahead: Because solar geoengineering has global implications, its consideration as a climate response requires –
- Effective international governance/ Mechanisms for oversight.
- Outdoor experimentation and funding for experiments should come only from governments.
- Ways to involve the public in decision-making.
Conclusion:
- Given the ethical and environmental risks these activities can present, atmospheric experiments to assess these technologies deserve timely public scrutiny and debate.
- Even as researchers assess the potential feasibility and effectiveness of geoengineering approaches, mitigation and adaptation must remain our first-line solutions.
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Mains Links:
What is solar Geoengineering? Discuss the benefits and shortcomings linked with this technology.
