Geoengineering now key to saving Arctic ice

The first explorers known to have reached the North Pole spent weeks dragging their sleds across the rough sea ice. Now people can get there most of the time in the comfort of a cruise ship, their passage made easier by the catastrophic melting of the ice caused by climate change.

The Arctic is losing ice at a rate of 12% per decade and is expected to be ice-free in summer by the 2030s – no matter how quickly we reduce emissions from now on. Meanwhile, in Antarctica, the vast The Thwaites glacier is cracking under the pressure of global warming, and Antarctic sea ice reached record levels in 2024 for the second year in a row.

We need to reduce emissions, and quickly, but that won’t be enough to stop rampant melting in the Arctic. To save us time and strengthen this delicate habitat of a warming world, geoengineering is probably our only hope.

A solution comes from the start-up Real Ice, which plans to using seawater to thicken Arctic ice. It’s controversial. Opponents say geoengineering of this type risks distracting humanity from the gargantuan task of reducing emissions.

However, there are good reasons to move forward. In addition to their spectacular wildlife and rich cultural heritage, the polar regions provide an immense service to the world. Their white caps reflect solar radiation back into space, helping to keep Earth’s climate cool. The loss of Arctic sea ice also triggers a whole series of other feedbacks that would amplify climate change and wreak havoc on weather systems around the world.

Of all our geoengineering options, refreezing the poles is perhaps the most harmless. There are of course risks. Thorough impact assessments will be essential to minimize any adverse effects on wildlife, local communities or wider land systems. But without action, the ice will disappear, destabilizing the global climate.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions should have started decades ago. The delay gives us no time to worry about geoengineering.