Solar Radiation Management–An Evolving Climate Policy Option

This discussion was co-authored by J. Eric Bickel, Assistant Professor, The University of Texas at Austin. Measures to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have dominated public discourse about responses to man-made climate change. However, major institutional and political hurdles dim the prospects for controlling emissions. Solar Radiation Management (SRM) appears to promise at least some capacity to offset manmade warming. SRM would seek to manage physical processes that reflect sunlight back into space. For example, researchers have envisioned adding to the layer of aerosols already present in the lower stratosphere. All else remaining equal, global mean temperatures would fall even… [more]