Scientists warn billion-dollar geoengineering schemes pose severe environmental risks
09/12/2025 / By Ava Grace
A comprehensive analysis by 46 international polar scientists concludes that large-scale climate engineering projects for the polar regions are unworkable, prohibitively expensive and pose severe environmental risks.
Specific proposals, such as spraying reflective particles into the atmosphere or building massive underwater barriers to protect glaciers, were found to be logistically impossible and ineffective, with costs estimated in the tens of billions of dollars.
These geoengineering schemes carry profound and unpredictable dangers, including potential toxicity to fragile ecosystems, disruption of marine life and the risk of a “termination shock” causing catastrophic warming if the projects were ever stopped.
The political and governance hurdles are immense, as these projects would require unprecedented international consensus in geopolitically tense regions and override the strong opposition of Indigenous communities.
The scientists warn that these technological fixes are a dangerous distraction from the only proven solution: rapidly reducing fossil fuel emissions to address the root cause of the climate crisis.
https://www.pollution.news/2025-09-12-scientists-warn-geoengineering-schemes-pose-severe-environmental-risks.html
