Geoengineering part 1: the case to try modifying the climate

Geoengineering, the modification of the climate using technological interventions to reverse climate change, is a hugely divisive issue and we’ve decided to explore it in two episodes.

In this first episode, we talk to scientists working on potential geoengineering technologies who argue the case for conducting research into these interventions. We speak to Shaun Fitzgerald, director of the Centre for Climate Repair at the University of Cambridge in the UK and Hugh Hunt, deputy director at the Centre, as well as Ben Kravitz, assistant professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences at Indiana University in the US. We're also joined by Stacy Morford, environment and climate editor at The Conversation in the US.

Part two, out tomorrow, will focus on the case against a particular type of solar geoengineering called solar radiation management.

This episode was written and produced by Katie Flood, Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware, with sound design by Michelle Macklem. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode are available. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.

Further reading:

• What could we do to cool the Arctic, specifically?
• Climate engineering carries serious national security risks − countries facing extreme heat may try it anyway, and the world needs to be prepared
• Blocking out the sun won’t fix climate change – but it could buy us time
• The overshoot myth: you can’t keep burning fossil fuels and expect scientists of the future to get us back to 1.5°C