Geoengineering, the controversial set of techniques that aim to deliberately alter the Earth’s climate system, may be inching a step closer to reality with the announcement that UK scientists will be conducting real-world experiments in the coming years. To understand what’s happening, Ian Sample is joined by the Guardian environment editor Damian Carrington. Damian explains what the experiments will entail and why scientists are so divided on whether pursuing this research is a good idea. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod