Around the world, ambitious projects are testing everything from seeding clouds with chemicals to pouring artificial whale feces into the sea.
The aim is to remove CO2 from the atmosphere through so-called ‘geoengineering’ and ‘carbon capture’ processes – and help mitigate climate change.
Geoengineering involves reflecting heat from the sun back into space to limit climate change, while ‘carbon capture’ involves capturing CO2 from the air, either directly or by capturing it in rain, among other things.
Experts speaking to DailyMail.com say research into these technologies is well underway – with experiments being rolled out this year.
‘Blocking the sun’ with sulfur particles
In a report last year, the White House cautiously supported further research into an idea straight out of science fiction – ‘blocking the sun’ to cool the atmosphere.
The federally mandated report said there is “a compelling case for research to better understand both the potential benefits and risks.”
Large projects investigate the benefits of cloud brightening
The idea is backed by technology billionaire Bill Gates, who funded a major Harvard study into the feasibility of flying jets into the atmosphere on thousands of missions to release carbonate dust and cool the planet.
The project was abandoned after protests from indigenous groups.
An Israeli startup called Stardust Solutions is testing a system to disperse reflective particles at an altitude of about 60,000 feet to reflect sunlight away from Earth.
Glowing clouds over the sea
Another technique that solar geoengineering proponents think could work is “Marine Cloud Brightening,” which involves injecting clouds over the ocean with tiny droplets to make them brighter and more reflective.
A $64.5 million project by Southern Cross University is to spray a mixture containing sea salt into low clouds in an attempt to cool the waters around the Great Barrier Reef.
Brightening marine clouds hopes to reflect sunlight by supplying materials (including sea salt) to clouds such as stratocumulus to quickly reduce warming.
It reflects an effect caused by pollutants released from ships.
Some scientists suggest that solar geoengineering could cause a “termination shock” when it ends, with temperatures returning quickly if geoengineering flights are halted.
Others have warned that this could lead to conflict, for example if one country used geoengineering to cool a certain area and it caused problems in another.
Dr. Jens Holtvoeth, Senior Lecturer in Geology, School of Health & Life Sciences at Teesside University, told DailyMail.com: ‘Solar energy aims to provide a quick measure to temporarily cool the Earth’s atmosphere for the time it takes to the concentrations of the main greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide and methane, and that is a slow process.’
‘We do know that the risk of serious environmental damage from solar geoengineering measures, such as injecting large amounts of sulfur compounds into the atmosphere, is enormous.
‘While some cooling can be achieved, the artificial temperature changes could also lead to a redistribution of precipitation that would not only reverse the patterns caused by climate change.
‘The changes in rainfall distribution would also affect terrestrial ecosystems and agricultural production in ways that are currently unforeseeable.’
Saving the planet with whale poop
An experiment with artificial whale feces (poop) aims to suck carbon dioxide from the atmosphere thanks to phytoplankton.
Phytoplankton sucks carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, with researchers hoping to increase the amount of CO2 absorbed by the oceans from 30 to 50 percent.
Whale poop helps control global warming
Phytoplankton blooms suck up carbon dioxide – one of the four main greenhouse gases contributing to climate change. After feeding on carbon dioxide, phytoplankton release oxygen in return.
Professor Sir David King, chairman of the University of Cambridge’s Center for Climate Repair, hopes the technology – which uses artificial whale feces to ‘feed’ plankton – could capture half of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Absorbing CO2 with crushed rock
The natural carbon-absorbing capacity of rocks could be used to ‘suck’ CO2 from the atmosphere in large quantities.
Antti Vihavainen, CEO and co-founder of CO2 crediting and CO2 removal company Puro.earth, told DailyMail.com: ‘Carbon dioxide removal is a process by which carbon is removed from the atmosphere and – crucially – stored for hundreds or thousands of years. year.
Crushed rocks can help to ‘fix’ CO2 and combat global warming
One technique uses enhanced weathering of rocks, mimicking natural processes that remove 1.1 Gt of CO2 from the atmosphere per year, equivalent to the emissions of 239 million cars.
Vihavainen said that with enhanced weathering, “it is accelerated from thousands of years to decades, by grinding large silicate rocks into fine particles or by collecting residual rocks from other processes, such as quarrying, and applying rocks to the soil.”
Vihavainen added: ‘It also has dual benefits: not only does it remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it for more than 1,000 years, but there are also huge agricultural benefits from spreading the stones over fields: less need for traditional fertilizers and improved soil. quality.
‘ERW practitioners are still collecting data from early trials and improving models for predicting the rate of carbon sequestration.
Suck CO2 from the air
Direct Air Capture (DAC) is one of the most ambitious – and expensive – ways to deal with climate change, using chemical reactions to capture CO2 from the air.
According to the International Energy Agency, there are more than 100 DAC projects worldwide.
Direct Air Capture ‘sucks’ CO2 from the air
Heirloom unveiled a direct air capture facility in California in November 2023
In America, start-up Heirloom unveiled a direct air capture facility in California in November 2023, using limestone to capture CO2 from the atmosphere.
Shashak Samala, founder and CEO of Heirloom, said the facility is “the closest thing we have on Earth to a time machine because it can turn back the clock on climate change.”