Publication: CNBC

UCLA Expert: Ted Parson: Professor of Environmental Law, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs; Faculty Co-Director, Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment

Synopsis: The White House is pushing ahead research to cool the Earth by reflecting back sunlight. The current estimate is that it would cost $10 billion per year to run a program that cools the Earth by 1 degree Celsius.

UCLA News:  Parson said that figure is seen to be remarkably cheap compared to other climate change mitigation initiatives. Stratospheric aerosol injection "would immediately take the high end off hot extremes," he said. And also it would "pretty much immediately" slow extreme precipitation events. However, there are significant and well-known risks to some of these techniques — such as damaging the ozone layer, acid deposition, and respiratory illnesses. “Spraying sulfur in the stratosphere would contribute in the bad direction to all of those effects. Even the people like me who think it's very important to do research on these things and to develop the capabilities all agree that the urgent top priority for managing climate change is cutting emissions," Parson told CNBC.

Read more at CNBC.