SOLAR GEOENGINEERING WEEKLY SUMMARY (27 JANUARY 2024 - 02 FEBRUARY 2025)

[Geoengineering News]

SOLAR GEOENGINEERING WEEKLY SUMMARY (27 JANUARY 2024 - 02 FEBRUARY 2025) Subscribe to receive the monthly updates: Solar Geoengineering Updates Monthly news summaries about solar geoengineering. Links to scientific papers, news articles, jobs, podcasts, and videos. By Andrew Lockley TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Research Papers 2. Web Posts 3. Reports 4. Upcoming Events 5. Podcasts 6. YouTube Videos 7. Deadlines RESEARCH PAPERS Between inflated expectations and inherent distrust: How publics see the role of experts in governing climate intervention technologies Fritz, L., Losi, L., Baum, C. M., Low, S., & Sovacool, B. K. (2025). Between inflated expectations and inherent distrust: How publics see the role of experts in governing climate intervention technologies. Environmental Science & Policy, 164, 104005. Abstract Novel technologies for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and proposals around solar radiation modification, known also as solar geoengineering, display key features of complex problems. These climate intervention technologies are characterized by high uncertainties, value disputes, high stakes and urgency. Such features create wicked conundrums in climate governance. Addressing questions around more effective governance of these technologies necessitates reflections on how different kinds of expertise, normative judgments and democratic decision-making (should) interact. Based on a survey (N = 22,222) and 44 focus groups (N = 323) in 22 countries, we show (i) who publics see as an expert in the field of climate intervention technologies, (ii) what roles they envision for experts in governing climate intervention technologies and (iii) how trust and distrust in scientists unfolds in the context of these novel, partly controversial, technologies. Our findings contribute to the debate regarding public preferences for experts and expertise in decision-making on complex and potentially contested issues. They offer insights for experts in the field on how to communicate and engage in public debate and policymaking as well as on which drivers of public dis-/trust to attend. Technology and International Environmental Cooperation Rabitz, F. 2025. Technology and International Environmental Cooperation. Global Environmental Politics. Abstract When does technology matter for resolving global challenges of environmental sustainability? Starting from the concept of “techno-fixes” that centers on the impacts of technology on environmental challenges, I develop an alternative account that assesses the implications of technology for international environmental cooperation. I propose the concept of techno-political fixes to refer to technologies that improve cooperative prospects. Techno-political fixes improve the structure of cooperation problems in terms of distributional impacts, epistemic complexity, and/or tractability, thus facilitating the joint management of environmental problems. This concept offers a new and nuanced approach to the role of technology in resolving sustainability challenges. I apply this framework to solar geoengineering, a set of proposed methods for planetary albedo modification to control anthropogenic global warming. By shifting the analytical focus from technological impacts on the climate system to technological implications for international cooperation, I show how solar geoengineering aggravates, rather than ameliorating, the problem structure of anthropogenic global warming. WEB POSTS A US-based non-profit, likely called the "Arête Glacier Initiative" (AGI) to raise $15m for glacier geo-engineering (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) Arctic Ice Project that aimed to use "a reflective material to protect and restore Arctic sea ice” is shutting down after tests indicate glass microbeads pose risks to Arctic food chain (Common Dreams) Statement by Arctic Ice Project Team Chemtrail believers sway GOP lawmakers to support geoengineering ban (News from the States) Cooling Credits: Could Paying for SRM Deployment Offset CO2 Emissions? (SRM360) REPORT Strategic Foresight Toolkit for Resilient Public Policy (OECD) UPCOMING EVENTS (NEW) Clear Skies, Clear Minds: Harnessing Open Research to Find Climate Solutions by Climate Systems Engineering Initiative | 13 February 2025 | University of Chicago What if we could make more ice by Centre for Climate Repair | 13 February 2025 | University of Cambridge Towards a European Blueprint for Responsible Solar Radiation Modification Research by Co-Create | 14 February 2025 | Online (NEW) Science Revealed - Dean's Lecture Series featuring Gwynne Dyer (lecture on geoengineering and climate change) by TRU Faculty of Science | 19 February 2025 | Canada What if clouds could be more reflective by Centre for Climate Repair | 27 February 2025 | University of Cambridge Solar radiation modification: What are the technologies, and what are the risks? by Scientific Advice Mechanism to the European Commission | 11 March 2025 | Online (NEW) International Conference on Arctic Research Planning IV Summit and Arctic Science Summit Week IASC | 20-28 March 2025 | Boulder, Colorado, USA Climate Intervention: Distraction or Necessity? by Center for Climate Repair | 21 March 2025 2025 Solar Radiation Management Annual Meeting by Simons Foundation | 24-25 April 2025 | New York The 2025 Degrees Global Forum | 12-16 May 2025 | Cape Town, South Africa (NEW) Consultative Workshop and Science-Policy Dialogue on Solar Radiation Modification by UNEP | 19-20 May 2025 | Switzerland Artic Repair Conference 2025 by University of Cambridge & Center for Climate Repair | 26-28 June 2025 | Cambridge UK Solar Geoengineering Events Calendar PODCASTS 2025 trends: aerosols, oil demand, and carbon removal | Catalyst with Shyle Kann 2025 trends: aerosols, oil demand, and carbon removal Catalyst with Shayle Kann 35:34 "Nat Bullard’s 200-page slide deck with data from across the energy transition. Nat is the former chief content officer at BloombergNEF and current co-founder at data insights company Halcyon. In part one of their two-part conversation, Shayle cherry-picked the most interesting slides and sat down with Nat to unpack them. They cover topics like: -Accidental solar geoengineering and the state of aerosols -The United States’ record-setting fossil fuels exports -Whether Chinese oil demand is peaking Conflicting indicators for the state of ESG investing -Whether you can have too many carbon removal startups" YOUTUBE VIDEOS What if engineering could cool the planet? Seminar: Engineering for the Climate | Centre for Climate Repair "Engineering has changed the world. But global temperatures are rising due to human action and emissions reduction is not sufficient to protect vulnerable people and places from the worst effects of climate change. What if engineering could help cool the planet? What if we could make more ice? What if clouds could be more reflective? What if GHGs could be captured? We're hosting introductory talks on climate engineering - how we might be able to mitigate warming effects while we get emissions down." Climate Interventions: Will Humans Control the Atmosphere? | Dubai Future Forum "Speakers: -Dr Renzo Taddei, Federal University of Sao Paulo -Matthias Honegger, International Center for Future Generations -Dr Lorena Sabino, University of the Philippines Los Baños" Solar Climate Intervention Virtual Symposium 15 (Dr. Asutosh Acharya & Dr. Pornampai Narenpitak) | Solar Climate Intervention Talks "Solar Climate Intervention Virtual Symposium 15 Dr. Asutosh Acharya (Aurassure, India) : "South Asian Summer Monsoon under Stratospheric Aerosol Intervention." Dr. Pornampai Narenpitak (NECTEC, Thailand) : "Regional Impacts of SRM on Precipitation in Mainland Southeast Asia." Stratospheric Aerosol Injection is Explored at WashU with $1.5 Million Grant to Fight Global Warming | HEC Science & Technology "Wildfires spark new research in the Aerosol Interdisciplinary Research Group’s lab, AIR Lab, at Washington University in St. Louis. Principal Investigator Rajan Chakrabarty is igniting new areas of study after his “wildfire chasing” in the western U.S. in 2019. His team discovered how stealthy dark brown carbon particles in wildfires probably result in much more climate warming than previously recognized. The discoveries turned Chakrabarty’s attention to the stratosphere. “Once emitted into the stratosphere, the particles can cause enhanced warming in the stratosphere. The lifetime of these particles is up to six months,” he said. Now, aerosols for potential stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) are tested in Chakrabarty’s lab with a $1.5 million grant from the Simons Foundation International. The team is interested in the idea of arming the stratosphere with particles that reflect light, for a cooling effect." DEADLINES Call for Abstracts—Session: "Solar Radiation Modification and its Impacts Across Asia and Oceania", at the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS) 2025 Meeting (July 27–Aug 1, Singapore) | Deadline to submit abstract: 18 February 2025 Call for Proposals-Solar Radiation Management | Deadline to apply: 27 February 2025 Call for Abstract—Arctic Repair 2025, Cambridge | Deadline to submit abstract: 28 February 2025 Call for Proposals—The Degrees Initiative has a new special call for proposals open to fund SRM modelling studies in developing countries | Deadline to apply: 01 March 2025