James Hansen Pushes for Geoengineering Amid Controversial Warning of Accelerated Global Warming

Hansen, known for his appearances before Congress on climate change, calls for immediate greenhouse gas emission reduction and solar geoengineering; his views spark debate among scientists.

Climate scientist James Hansen and 17 co-authors argue in a new paper that climate warming is accelerating due to reduced greenhouse emissions and that geoengineering methods might be needed to avoid severe levels of warming.
A form of geoengineering, Solar Radiation Management (SRM), which involves spraying seawater into the air by robotic watercraft to form low-level clouds that reflect sunlight back into the space, is suggested by Hansen as a potential solution.
Hansen's ideas have sparked debate among leading climate scientists, some of whom remain sceptical and warn that tampering with the atmosphere carries with it potential consequences for human health, weather systems, and agriculture.
More than 60 climate scientists and policy experts launched a global initiative in 2022 for an international non-use agreement on solar geoengineering, and hundreds more scholars have joined them since.
Hansen warned that the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times is critically endangered, given the current trends on global warming acceleration, but his claims have been met by skepticism from some other scientists.