Climate Plan B Proposed to Counter Global Warming

Humankind may have to "reset" Earth's thermal balance with massive geoengineering projects if efforts to halt global warming fail, the Royal Society says.

Britain’s most eminent scientific body recommends that an ambitious research project be launched to find ways to reverse global warming should the world’s governments prove unable to agree on policies to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

A 12-member panel of the Royal Society calls for a 10-year, $163 million effort to study such geoengineering technologies as removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reflecting sunlight back into space on a massive scale.

Both schemes to “reset” the atmosphere may become necessary should Earth suddenly lurch into a hotter climate, the report said.

The society says geoengineering responses to climate change should not be the last options considered. The panel adds that the use of such technology must be explored despite potential negative effects it might have on some aspects of the climate as well.

“Nothing should divert us from the priority of reducing global carbon dioxide emissions and ensuring that the December (climate) meeting in Copenhagen does lead to real progress,” said Royal Society President and renowned astrophysicist Lord Rees of Ludlow.

Should governments fail to prevent sudden and dramatic climate change, the society recommends that carbon dioxide removal efforts be favored over solar-radiation management since it involves processes closer to those that occur in nature.

Graphic: Royal Society