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Climate Intervention Techniques Could Reduce the Nutritional Value of
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Climate Intervention Techniques Could Reduce the Nutritional Value of
Crops, New Study Finds
November 6, 2025byOffice of Public Outreach and Communication
<https://sebsnjaesnews.rutgers.edu/author/office-of-communications-2/>
A new study published in the journal,/Environmental Research Letters
<https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ae1151>,/reports
that cooling the planet by injecting sulfur dioxide into the
stratosphere—a proposed climate intervention technique—could reduce the
nutritional value of the world’s crops.
Scientists at Rutgers University used global climate and crop models to
estimate how stratospheric aerosol intervention (SAI), one type of solar
geoengineering, would impact the protein level of the world’s four major
food crops, maize, rice, wheat and soybeans. The SAI approach, inspired
by volcanic eruptions, would involve releasing sulfur dioxide into the
stratosphere. This gas would transform into sulfuric acid particles,
forming a persistent cloud in the upper atmosphere that reflects a small
part of the Sun’s radiation, thereby cooling the Earth.
While these cereal crops are primarily sources of carbohydrates, they
also provide a substantial share of dietary protein for large portions
of the global population. Model simulations suggested that increased
CO_2 concentrations tended to reduce the protein content of all four
crops, while increased temperatures tended to increase the protein
content of crops. Because SAI would stop temperatures from increasing,
the CO_2 effect would not be countered by warming, and protein would
decrease relative to a warmer world without SAI.
“SAI would not perfectly counteract the impacts of climate change; it
would instead create a novel climate where the relationship between CO_2
and surface temperatures is decoupled. This would likely reduce the
protein content of crops, and impact plant ecology in other ways we do
not yet fully understand,” said Brendan Clark, a former doctoral student
in the Department of Environmental Sciences at the Rutgers School of
Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS), and lead author on the study.
Models show that SAI would affect crop protein differently across
regions, with the largest declines in nations that are already
malnourished and protein deficient. The authors highlight that more
field studies and model development are needed to make more informed
decisions about SAI.
“Are we willing to live with all these potential impacts to have less
global warming? That’s the question we’re trying to ask here,” said Alan
Robock, a Distinguished Professor of Climate Science in the Department
of Environmental Sciences at SEBS, and a co-author of the study. “We’re
trying to quantify each of the potential risks and benefits so we can
make informed decisions in the future.”
Brendan Clark is now a postdoctoral associate at Cornell University.
Other scientists on the study include Lili Xia, assistant research
professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at SEBS, Sam Rabin
of NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research, Jose Guarin of NASA
Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Jonas Jägermeyr of Columbia
University.
--
Alan Robock
Alan Robock, Distinguished Professor
Editor, /Reviews of Geophysics
<https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/19449208>/(Impact
Factor 37.3) <https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/19449208>
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Read our book: /Earth in Flames: How an Asteroid Killed the Dinosaurs
and How We Can Avoid a Similar Fate From Nuclear Winter/
by Owen Brian Toon and Alan Robock
<https://www.amazon.com/Earth-Flames-Asteroid-Dinosaurs-Similar/dp/0197799701/ref=sr_1_1>
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