Overview
- Britain’s Royal Society released a review finding that globally coordinated solar radiation modification could lower temperatures but would be risky and cannot replace cutting greenhouse gases.
- Scientists identified stratospheric aerosol injection and marine cloud brightening as the most feasible approaches, with models suggesting about 8–16 million tonnes of SO2 per year could deliver roughly 1°C of cooling at costs in the low tens of billions of dollars annually.
- The report warns that unilateral or regional deployment could worsen impacts in specific areas, including stronger North Atlantic hurricanes, drought in the Sahel and Mediterranean, and potential Amazon dieback.
- Experts emphasize limits and hazards such as failure to address ocean acidification and the danger of rapid ‘termination shock’ warming if SRM were halted after long-term use.
- Musk’s Nov. 3 post posited an AI‑controlled satellite constellation to modulate sunlight, but outlets report no concrete plan, current Starlink satellites are unsuited to the task, and space‑based sunshade concepts face daunting, multi‑trillion‑dollar scale challenges and governance obstacles.