Professor Kim and his colleagues published a paper on the side effects of geoengineering methods in Communications Earth & Environment. Ultimately, we must transition to a decarbonized society for a sustainable world, but it will require a lot of social cost and effort. Accordingly, geoengineering measures are being discussed to prevent global warming and relevant climate change at a more reasonable price instead of reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations. Various ideas are being developed, such as creating clouds so that more solar radiation can be reflected back into space, or scattering materials such as volcanic ash into the stratosphere, taking note of the fact that the Earth's temperature drops during volcanic eruptions.

However, in a new study, a climate modeling experiment using geoengineering methods revealed that as the maximum and minimum temperatures in the Arctic region rise, Arctic forest fires and permafrost thawing, which have recently become issues, may worsen. This is because the CO2 concentration cannot be controlled by geoengineering. When the CO2 concentration is high, plants close their stomata, which worsens heat waves in Arctic regions and causes energy imbalance.