All Solar Geoengineering Approaches

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All of the techniques represent innovative but highly experimental approaches to solar geoengineering. For instance, while space-based methods offer a bold vision for global cooling, they face immense technical, financial, and logistical barriers. Cirrus cloud thinning offers a more atmospheric-focused approach but remains poorly understood and carries significant uncertainties. Of note SAI and MCB are the most well-studied SRM techniques, although much more research is needed to understand their climate impacts, as well as addressing broader governance and ethical concerns.

Importantly, none of these techniques address the root cause of climate change—greenhouse gas emissions—and all would require much more research before they could be seriously considered as part of a broader climate strategy. This underscores the importance of emissions reductions, adaptation, and carbon removal as primary solutions to combat climate change.