Engineering

Geo-engineering should be developed as insurance against dangerous climate change

(TELEGRAPH) - The Royal Society said that while the geo-engineering solutions were not a “silver bullet” and carried their own risks, they could be the only hope of saving the world from disastrous climate change.

A report written by a panel of eminent scientists suggested that the world should start investing around £100 million as a “Plan B” in the event that it fails to reduce carbon admissions before temperatures rise to “very dangerous” levels.

It looked at the feasibility and potential dangers of technologies designed to cool down the earth.

They included such as artificial “trees” that suck carbon dioxide out of the air and man-made volcanoes that spray sulphate particles high in the atmosphere to scatter the sun’s rays back into space.

Mirrors launched into space were also looked at as a way of reflecting the Sun’s heat.

The report by the Royal Society comes as concerns grow that the United Nation’s climate talks in Copenhagen in December will fail to reach agreement.

Even if carbon emission is cut by as much as 50 per cent by 2050, it is unlikely to keep global warming below two degrees this century, a dangerous level.

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