The writer is chair of the Climate Overshoot Commission and former Director General of the World Trade Organization
If all global pledges and commitments to climate action are satisfied, we are going to experience an increase of 2.4 to 2.6C by the end of the century. This is much lower than the 4C increase without climate action, but also much higher than the intended 1.5C of the Paris Agreement.
Worse, overshooting this objective looks imminent, as the world reached an annual average temperature of 1.45°C above pre-industrial levels last year. Rapid emissions reductions, stronger adaptation efforts, and increased carbon dioxide removal remain crucial for limiting the worst impacts of global warming. But with risks already high and rising alarmingly, we cannot afford to ignore any existing methods. That includes controversial ones such as geoengineering — specifically, solar radiation modification (SRM), which involves reflecting a small portion of sunlight back into space to cool the planet. During the past few months, SRM has been gaining traction in scientific circles, international media and among diverse climate stakeholders.