Articles | Volume 17, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-17-387-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-17-387-2026
Research article
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22 Apr 2026
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 22 Apr 2026

Stratospheric aerosol injection geoengineering has the potential to increase land carbon storage and to protect the Amazon rainforest

Isobel M. Parry, Paul D. L. Ritchie, Olivier Boucher, Peter M. Cox, James M. Haywood, Ulrike Niemeier, Roland Séférian, Simone Tilmes, and Daniele Visioni

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Cited articles

Abiodun, B. J., Odoulami, R. C., Sawadogo, W., Oloniyo, O. A., Abatan, A. A., New, M., Lennard, C., Izidine, P., Egbebiyi, T. S., and MacMartin, D. G.: Potential impacts of stratospheric aerosol injection on drought risk managements over major river basins in Africa, Climatic Change, 169, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03268-w, 2021. a, b
Albertson, K., Aylen, J., Cavan, G., and McMorrow, J.: Forecasting the outbreak of moorland wildfires in the English Peak District, J. Environ. Manage., 90, 2642–2651, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2009.02.011, 2009. a
Armstrong McKay, D. I., Staal, A., Abrams, J. F., Winkelmann, R., Sakschewski, B., Loriani, S., Fetzer, I., Cornell, S. E., Rockström, J., and Lenton, T. M.: Exceeding 1.5 °C global warming could trigger multiple climate tipping points, Science, 377, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abn7950, 2022. a, b
Arora, V. K., Katavouta, A., Williams, R. G., Jones, C. D., Brovkin, V., Friedlingstein, P., Schwinger, J., Bopp, L., Boucher, O., Cadule, P., Chamberlain, M. A., Christian, J. R., Delire, C., Fisher, R. A., Hajima, T., Ilyina, T., Joetzjer, E., Kawamiya, M., Koven, C. D., Krasting, J. P., Law, R. M., Lawrence, D. M., Lenton, A., Lindsay, K., Pongratz, J., Raddatz, T., Séférian, R., Tachiiri, K., Tjiputra, J. F., Wiltshire, A., Wu, T., and Ziehn, T.: Carbon–concentration and carbon–climate feedbacks in CMIP6 models and their comparison to CMIP5 models, Biogeosciences, 17, 4173–4222, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4173-2020, 2020. a, b, c, d, e
Ballantyne, A., Smith, W., Anderegg, W., Kauppi, P., Sarmiento, J., Tans, P., Shevliakova, E., Pan, Y., Poulter, B., Anav, A., Friedlingstein, P., Houghton, R., and Running, S.: Accelerating net terrestrial carbon uptake during the warming hiatus due to reduced respiration, Nat. Clim. Change, 7, 148–152, https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3204, 2017. a, b
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Editorial statement
This paper deals with the effects of solar geoengineering that aims to mitigate climate change by the injection of aerosols in the stratosphere. It uses climate model simulations to show that there could be an additional benefit in doing so as the models indicate an enhanced productivity of the biosphere, and thus a greater carbon sink. This is a significant insight that could stimulate more debate and analyses with regard to the pros and cons of geoengineering.
Short summary
Contrary to some expectations, results from the latest Earth System Models suggest that Solar Radiation Geoengineering could protect the Amazon rainforest from climate-driven dieback. Under Stratospheric Aerosol Injection, carbon storage in Amazonia was projected to increase by a mean of 10.8 % relative to a high CO2 emissions scenario, and even by 8.6% compared to a more conventional medium CO2 emissions scenario.
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