Journal About Arctic Technology & Innovation

Introduction to Climate Intervention

Geoengineering encompasses a range of techniques aimed at deliberately altering the Earth's climate systems to counteract the effects of global warming and human-caused climate change. As global temperatures continue to rise and the impacts of climate change become increasingly severe, these emerging technologies have moved from theoretical discussions to serious consideration by scientists, policymakers, and governments worldwide. The year 2024 marked a critical threshold when average global warming exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius for the first time—the limit that climate scientists have warned against for decades and that policymakers appeared to have heeded by reaching the landmark Paris Agreement in 2015. While a couple of years above this threshold do not necessarily indicate that long-term warming has permanently breached this level, rising greenhouse gas emissions mean it is a question of when, not if, this moment will be reached on a sustained basis.

These methods are typically divided into two main categories that differ substantially in their mechanisms, timelines, risk profiles, and ethical implications. The first category, solar radiation management (SRM), seeks to reduce global temperatures by reflecting a small fraction of sunlight back into space before it can warm the planet, essentially treating the symptoms of climate change rather than its underlying cause. The second category, carbon dioxide removal (CDR), aims to address th...