David Keith, Harvard University
“Cutting emissions to zero is necessary to enable a stable climate. It’s possible to make very fast emissions cuts while preserving energy services for the wealthy and increasing access for the poor. However, even the immediate elimination of emissions does not eliminate Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies climate risks; it simply stops the accumulation of carbon and thus the increase in climate impacts. In my view, solar geoengineering is – at best – a supplement to emissions cuts, not a substitute for them. It is possible that a combination of emissions cuts, carbon removal, and solar geoengineering could provide a significantly safer climate than emissions cuts alone or emissions cuts and carbon removal combined. Possible but unproven. The central political challenge is how to learn more about solar geoengineering – a potentially useful and potentially dangerous technology – given that research will likely be overhyped and exploited by forces opposed to emissions cuts.”
http://www.ce-conference.org/system...e_engineering_conference_2017_en_web.pdf