We’re Saved! ‘Boeing 777s could cool the planet… if you don’t mind acid rain’ – ‘Stratospheric aerosol injection’ technique could ‘put brakes on global warming,’ new ‘modeling study’ finds

Boeing 777s could be used to cool the planet, scientists have found – but it might lead to acid rain.

Climate experts are increasingly considering geoengineering projects to put the brakes on global warming, with most research focusing on shooting aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight back into space.

The technique is known as stratospheric aerosol injection, and it was thought it would require specially designed aircraft capable of flying at altitudes of 65,000ft to be effective.

But new modelling by University College London (UCL) has found that adding particles 42,000ft above the polar regions could bring meaningful cooling at a height that can be reached by aircraft such as the freighter Boeing 777F.

The downside is that injecting sulphur dioxide at the poles rather than the equator, where there is more sunlight, would mean planes would need far more particles to be effective, which could have damaging knock-on effects.

When sulphur dioxide (SO2) is released into the atmosphere, it can react with water vapour and other chemicals, forming sulphuric acid, a key component of acid rain.