Fixing the Climate

Should science mimic volcanoes?

BBC Radio 4's Analysis: Climate - the Quick Fix was broadcast on Thursday, 31st July 2008 at 20:30 and repeated on Sunday 3rd August at 21.30 BST

Read the programme transcript

Is geo-engineering - using technical solutions to change the global climate - finally entering the mainstream?

For some time scientists have been proposing fixes, ranging from launching millions of tiny mirrors into space to reflect back the sun's rays, to sending rockets loaded with sulphur to create a cooling layer of deliberate pollution in the atmosphere, copying the effects of a volcanic eruption.

There are also plans to suck up the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere or treat what's been absorbed in the oceans.

Until recently such projects were discussed only by a tiny minority, and ignored by most scientists and policy makers in the field.

But now - as pessimism grows about the world's ability to make substantial cuts in carbon emissions - some of the ideas are being taken more seriously.

Sir David King

Sir David King, until recently the government's chief scientific adviser, tells the programme that "funding ought to be there to enable further research to be carried out".

There are calls for more research into possible side effects, and more discussion among governments about how any geo-engineering projects should be controlled.

What would happen if individual countries, groups or a rogue individual - a "Greenfinger" as contributor puts it - try unilaterally to alter the Earth's climate?

Interviewees: Scott Barrett Professor of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University David Victor Professor of Law, Stanford University Sir David King Director, Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, Oxford University Robin Webster Energy Campaigner, Friends of the Earth Brian Launder Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Manchester Julian Morris Executive Director, International Policy Network

Some are still sceptical. They not only question the science, but also warn about the signal serious geo-engineering research might send to the world: that we don't need to reduce carbon emissions as a technical fix is in the making.

Governments remain tight-lipped. It is a discussion many would rather not have, though Sir David admits in the programme that the subject has been raised at international climate talks.

We investigate this highly controversial debate, and hear from some of those who have been breaking the taboo and thinking about where geo-engineering might take us.

Presenter: Frances Cairncross
Producer: Chris Bowlby
Editor: Hugh Levinson

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The BBC's security correspondent, Frank Gardner, investigates splits in the global jihadi movement, and asks if Al-Qaeda's opponents are winning the war of ideology.