It has been claimed that stratospheric aerosol injections and sunshades or mirrors in space undoubtedly have the maximum potential to cut greenhouse gases and cool the climate by 80% by 2050.

A new report stated that the attempts made to lessen the consequences of human-induced climatic change have so far been proven completely inadequate.

Researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) discovered that the advantageous outcomes of geo-engineering systems have been overstated in the past, and major errors made in earlier calculations.

Prof Tim Lenton, of UEA's School of Environmental Sciences, told, “The realisation that existing efforts to mitigate the effects of human-induced climate change are proving wholly ineffectual in geo-engineering. This paper provides the first extensive evaluation of their relative merits in terms of their climate cooling potential and should help inform the prioritisation of future research.”

The research’s findings, published in the journal ‘Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions’, also discovered that increasing carbon sinks might be capable of taking CO2 back to its pre-industrial level by 2100.

An increase in the reflectivity of urban regions could lessen urban heat islands but will have least global effect.

Other globally ineffective schemes include ocean pipes and stimulating biologically-driven increases in cloud reflectivity.

Geo-engineering is the large-scale engineering of the environment to combat the effects of climate change - in particular to counteract the effects of increased CO2 in the atmosphere.

Geo-engineering involves large-scale environmental manipulation in order to fight the potentially devastating results of increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.

Prof Lenton added, “We found that some geo-engineering options could usefully complement mitigation, and together they could cool the climate, but geo-engineering alone cannot solve the climate problem.”

He also said that sowing the stratosphere with fine sulphur particles or other manufactured particles are the best bet to gain a quick cool by 2050.

AT the same time, they also carry the most risk as the particles have to be replenished, and if deployment was stopped suddenly, it would cause temperatures to rise at a stroke.

Lenton also said that combusted biomass waste, or bio-char, could possibly have ‘win-win benefits’ for the climate as well as soil fertility.