Will We Have to Geoengineer?

Holly Jean Buck (University of Buffalo) argues that geoengineering will have to be used in attempts to deal with climate change (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/26/planet-earth-climate-crisis-geoengineering). Buck points out that there are basically two approaches to geoengineering. Carbon engineering which involves sucking the carbon out of the atmosphere and storing it (in trees, wetlands or geologically stable area of rock). Solar engineering which attempts to reduce the amount of the sun's radiation, reaching the surface of the planet (usually by reflecting a proportion back into space). Buck insists that cutting 'greenhouse gas' emissions will not solve the current climate change problem. She maintains we also need to remove much of the 'legacy' carbon already in the Earth's atmosphere. How much carbon? Buck thinks hundreds of billions of gigatonnes of carbon will have to be removed. She thinks tree planting could not achieve this (much of land is needed for crop production). Buck may well be right about a combination of reduced emissions and removals of carbon being needed to curb rampant climate change. The trouble with some forms of geoengineering, however, is that their effects may prove detrimental, in the short, medium and/or longer-terms, to some parts of the planet. 'Scrubbing'/storing carbon from the atmosphere and all forms of solar engineering would fall into this category. Only certain countries are likely to undertake these kinds of geoengineering. They are likely to do things they think will be in their own interest, giving little consideration to folk elsewhere on the planet. There is a danger they could act like planetary 'cowboy builders'? At the very least, we need an International body to properly evaluate and approve any geoengineering proposals.