Global warming can be stopped for DKK 45 billion by using an armada of cloud-making vessels in the world’s oceans – if we dare manipulate the earth’s climate – at least according to the enfant terrible of the climate debate Bjørn Lomborg of the Copenhagen Business School’s Copenhagen Consensus Centre.

Temperature can be manipulated
“Calculations show that we can stop the temperature rises forecast for the 21st century for DKK 45 billion. You send out 1,900 remote-controlled vessels into the oceans where they sail around and beat up the salt water. That creates clouds which reduce the effects of the sun’s heat,” Lomborg tells Jyllands-Posten, adding that the return on the investment would be 2000-fold.

Several research projects have shown that it is possible to manipulate climate and several scientists support the idea. Professor Gary Shaffer of the Niels Bohr Institute at Copenhagen University, however, is not one of them.

“There are major drawbacks. You risk starting processes that you can’t manage. So the best solution is to emit fewer greenhouse gases,” Shaffer says.

The Copenhagen Consensus Centre is a Denmark-based international think-tank offering statistically-based ideas on how global funding could best be used.