Is Geoengineering a Viable Option for Dealing with Climate Change?

The difficulty in implementing comprehensive policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions has led analysts and researchers to wonder about alternative strategies for dealing with climate change. Geoengineering –that is the deliberate reduction of the incoming solar radiation- has received increased interest in recent years as an alternative or complementary climate strategy to abatement of greenhouse gas emissions. In particular, the uncertainties about the magnitude and impact of climate change contributed to the vision of geoengineering as a last resort type of climate policy, which could render abatement in the short term dispensable. In recent research, we analyse the interaction between both types of climate policies and find that under uncertainty, substantial abatement in the medium and short term remains optimal under fairly general conditions due to the time lag until geoengineering options might be available.