Plan A for climate change is failing, it’s time for Plan A+

The world is aiming to limit warming to 1.5°C, and it’s failing. Temperatures have already risen by 1.2°C and we’re on track for ~3°C. The impacts of climate change are with us and will only get worse over the coming decades. That is, unless we start thinking radically.

Plan A for climate change is to eliminate CO2 emissions as fast as possible and to do all we can to adapt to a changing world. While some countries are achieving significant emissions cuts, global emissions are still not falling. Plan A is failing and we’ll see substantial suffering if we stick to it.

There is no Plan B. There’s no way around the fact that until we eliminate CO2 emissions we’re only going to make the climate problem worse.

It’s time for Plan A+.

What is Plan A+? It’s exactly the same as plan A, we would rapidly eliminate CO2 emissions and rush to adapt, but we would also reflect 1% of sunlight back to space.

Plan A+ is a newsletter that will explain how reflecting 1% of sunlight back to space could make all the difference.

Hi, I’m Dr. Pete Irvine and in this newsletter I’ll explain how reflecting 1% of sunlight back to space, using ideas known as solar geoengineering, could slash the risks of climate change and may even make it easier to achieve our other climate goals.

I’ll cover the science of solar geoengineering, its risks and benefits, and the ways it may go wrong. I’ll also tackle some of the broader issues that climate change raises. Over time, I hope to build up an archive of articles that lays out whether and how Plan A+ should be developed.

It’s important to bear in mind that to make a success of plan A+ we will still need to devote 100% of our efforts to plan A. However, if we can find an extra 1%, we might be able to achieve much more.

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