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Patenting the Sun? Possible Exclusion of SRM Technologies from Patenting and Risk Regulation
Authors: Wenting Cheng
Synopsis: This article explores whether patents should be restricted for Solar Radiation Modification (SRM) technologies, drawing on the principle of technology neutrality under the TRIPS Agreement. While current international law allows SRM patenting, the dual nature of SRM - offering potential climate benefits alongside significant environmental and governance risks, raises concerns for risk regulation. The article reviews proposals to prohibit SRM patents and argues for integrating ex ante risk assessment into patent law through a dedicated sui generis SRM regulatory framework.
High resolution assessment of the impact of solar radiation modification on future Caribbean wind and solar energy sources
Authors: Matthew St. Michael Williams, Leonardo Clarke, Randy Koon Koon and Michael A Taylor
Synopsis: This study examines the impacts of SRM using the GeoMIP G4 scenario on Caribbean wind and solar energy resources through high-resolution WRF downscaling of HadGEM2-ES projections. Comparing historical and 1.5 °C and 2 °C warming periods under RCP4.5, bias-corrected results show SRM generally reduces regional wind speeds, with localized increases in parts of Jamaica and Hispaniola, while solar irradiance changes remain small but uncertain, highlighting data gaps for robust SRM energy assessments.
Challenges in global climate models to represent cloud response to aerosols: insights from volcanic eruptions
Authors: Yu Wang, David Neubauer, Ying Chen, George Jordan, Florent Malavelle, et al.
Synopsis: This study uses a new large-scale observational constraint on aerosol–cloud interactions (ACI), derived from machine learning applied to satellite data from the 2014 Holuhraun volcanic eruption, to evaluate six global climate models. While models reasonably capture aerosol effects on marine liquid cloud optical depth through compensating errors, they strongly underestimate aerosol-driven cloud cover changes, with most falling outside the 90% confidence range. This bias persists across cloud schemes and processes, driving major uncertainty in ACI cooling and climate sensitivity estimates.
Regulating the Unthinkable: Climate Interventions as a Test Case for Risk Governance - Preprint
Authors: Alberto Alemanno, Masahiro Sugiyama
Synopsis: This article examines the growing governance challenges surrounding climate interventions such as SRM and Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) in an era of rising overshoot risk. It explores institutional legitimacy, recognition justice, fragmented international law, risk analysis approaches, precautionary principles, market governance, intellectual property, and regional perspectives. Synthesizing insights from a special issue on SRM and CDR, it frames climate intervention governance as a critical test of risk regulation and collective decision-making under deep uncertainty.
Impacts of Timing and Level of Stratospheric Aerosol Injection on Coral Thermal Bleaching - Preprint
Authors: Gouri Anil, Cheryl S Harrison, Joanie Kleypas, Daniel Holstein, et al.
Synopsis: This study assesses whether solar climate intervention via stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) could reduce coral bleaching under continued warming. Using daily sea surface temperatures from CESM simulations, coral thermal stress under SSP2-4.5 is compared with three SAI scenarios differing in deployment timing and temperature targets. All SAI scenarios substantially reduce bleaching across global reef provinces, with early deployment limiting warming to 1.0 ℃ providing the strongest and most widespread protection.
The economics of geoengineering - Book Chapter
Authors: Anthony Harding, Juan B. Moreno-Cruz
Synopsis: This article reviews geoengineering as an alternative to emissions abatement for addressing anthropogenic climate change, distinguishing between SRM and CDR. It highlights SRM as fast and low-cost but imperfect, and CDR as slow and expensive yet capable of permanent negative emissions. While geoengineering may help overcome free-rider problems in climate policy, it introduces new risks, uncertainties, and strategic challenges that can lead to suboptimal outcomes despite potential net benefits.
IPC distribution for SRM patent application (2006–2025)
(Source)Peter’s Substack – The Haline Choke – Beware where you brighten the clouds
DSG – SRM Governance Horizons: Towards A Readiness Framework For Anticipating Tomorrow’s Choices
The London Free Press – Dyer: Geoengineering part of climate change solution
Physics Today – The urgent need for research governance of solar geoengineering – Shuchi Talati
The Spec – Scientists urge stronger focus on geoengineering amid rising global temperatures
Cabin Radio – Is it time to try climate engineering to save Arctic sea ice?
Pearls & Irritations – Climate hot takes for 2025
Wach Fox57 – South Carolina lawmakers weigh a ban on “chemtrails,” even as skepticism fills the room
Operaatio Arktis – Nordic Climate Security Leadership and Approaches to Climate Intervention Research
Operaatio Arktis – UNEA-7 and the State of Global Climate Action: Where Does Research and Governance of Solar Radiation Management Stand?
SRM360 – “Make Sunsets” in Mexico: Lessons for SRM Governance
LinkedIn – When “Inclusion” Dilutes Justice: Why Solar Radiation Non-Use Must Not Be Reframed Away
The Portugal News – Geoengineering for Grown-Ups
The Degrees Initiative – 2025 in review: broadening the tent
Waterstones – The Politics of Geoengineering: Perspectives from the Social Sciences – Springer Climate (Hardback)
Peter’s Substack – Sunsets Not Included – A Reality Check on Balloon Geoengineering
Le Monde – “Private geoengineering comes at a cost, and that cost is public”
One Percent Brighter – What if we’re on a much worse climate trajectory than we realize?
DSG, IAI, The Degrees Initiative - From Science to Policy: Navigating the Complexities of Emerging Climate Techniques in the Americas (ENG) - Multilateral Simulation Workshop on Solar Radiation Modification
Recognizing a significant knowledge gap on emerging climate intervention techniques among climate and environmental negotiators and policymakers in the Americas, the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI), the Alliance for Just Deliberation on Solar Geoengineering (DSG), and The Degrees Initiative developed a three-part workshop series—two virtual sessions followed by an in-person technical meeting in Bogota, Colombia. To maintain a focused scope, the series centered on solar radiation modification (SRM) as a case study.
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Call for proposals for round table discussions at IAA Planetary Sunshade Workshop | Submission Deadline: 31 January 2026 (NEW)
Call for Abstract Submission for EGU26 Session: Advances in Understanding Solar Radiation Modification Technologies and their Impact on the Earth System | Deadline: 15 January 2026 (NEW)
Executive Assistant and Special Projects Coordinator at The Alliance for Just Deliberation on Solar Geoengineering (DSG) | United States
“DSG works at the intersection of solar radiation management (SRM), climate governance, and international diplomacy, emphasizing justice-centered, globally inclusive, and deeply participatory approaches. Our work is complex and politically sensitive, requiring careful pacing, thoughtful coordination, and strong internal systems.”
Adaptation vs Geoengineering - Gambill | Reviewer 2 does geoengineering
“@geoengineering1 interviews Paul Gambill to discuss the intricate dynamics between adaptation and geoengineering. Drawing on his experience as the former founder of Nori, the first carbon removal marketplace, Paul reflects on why scaling durable carbon removal has proven so difficult and what those barriers suggest for stabilizing the climate in an era of overshoot.
The conversation then turns to the growing relevance of geoengineering approaches, including solar radiation management (SRM) and other large-scale interventions, and the conditions under which they might move from taboo to serious consideration. The episode explores a spectrum of techniques that blur the line between adaptation and planetary engineering, from ocean iron fertilization and ice-sheet stabilization to localized cooling strategies. Throughout, Paul stresses the need for public awareness, strategic policy development, philanthropic investment, and credible long-term governance to ensure that any future climate interventions are deliberate, legitimate, and responsibly managed.
Articles referenced in the episode:
Paul Gamble’s current project:
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Events Recording: Arctic Repair 2025 - Playlist | Centre for Climate Repair
Engineering and Logistical Concerns Add Practical Limitations to Stratospheric Aerosol Injection Strategies - CSEi Seminar Featuring Gernot Wagner (Columbia Business School) | UChicago Climate Systems Engineering initiative
The CSEi Seminar Series brings researchers from the natural and social sciences, industry practitioners, and policymakers to the University of Chicago to explore critical questions in climate systems engineering. The series is intended to stimulate new research collaborations on campus and build connections with experts outside the university.”
Climate Models (Featuring Tiffany Shaw) | UChicago Climate Systems Engineering initiative
“Tiffany Shaw explains the scientific basis for predicting how the climate changes in response to emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosol pollution and examines what climate models can and cannot tell us about what to expect.”
Climate Systems Engineering in Context (Featuring David Keith) | UChicago Climate Systems Engineering initiative
“David Keith wraps up the lecture series, discusses the overall field of climate systems engineering, and speculates about its future.”
Why SRM/Solar-Geoengineering is Required (with Q&A) | Climate Chat
“In this Climate Chat episode, Host Dan Miller present why Solar Geo-engineering (a.k.a., Solar Radiation Management or SRM) is now required to avoid more than 2ºC of warming and catastrophe. The presentation is about 15 minutes and is followed by Q&A with YouTube Live listeners.”
The Case for Polar Solar Engineering - Wake Smith at Arctic Repair 2025 | Centre for Climate Repair
“Wake Smith is a Lecturer in the Yale School of the Environment and a Research Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School. His book Pandora’s Toolbox: The Hopes and Hazards of Climate Intervention was published by Cambridge University Press in March 2022. He has published more than 15 papers on the aeronautics, costs, and governance of solar geoengineering and developed preliminary designs for high altitude deployment and research aircraft. That research has been widely cited in scientific assessments by the European Commission, the UN Environment Program, and the US National Academies. He previously served as Chairman and President of Pemco World Air Services, Chief Operating Officer of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, and President of the flight training division of The Boeing Company. He holds a BA from Yale and an MBA from Harvard.”
08 January | Online - Carbon Removal Won’t Scale in Time by MEER (NEW)
9-13 March 2026 | Kyoto, Japan - CMIP Community Workshop (CMIP26)
21-26 June 2026 | United States - Gordon Research Conference - Bridging Observations, Models, and Impacts in Solar Radiation Modification Research
13-15 May | University of Nottingham - IAA Planetary Sunshade Workshop by Planetary Sunshade Foundation (NEW)
28 – 29 May | Belgium - International Forum on Solar Radiation Modification Research Governance by Co-Create (NEW)
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