| SOLAR GEOENGINEERING WEEKLY SUMMARY (13 MAY - 19 MAY 2024)Subscribe to our newsletter to receive monthly updates on Solar Geoengineering:
RESEARCH PAPERSFritz, L., Baum, C. M., Low, S., & Sovacool, B. K. (2024). Public engagement for inclusive and sustainable governance of climate interventions. Nature Communications, 15(1), 4168. Abstract The need for public engagement is increasingly evident as discussions intensify around emerging methods for carbon dioxide removal and controversial proposals around solar geoengineering. Based on 44 focus groups in 22 countries across the Global North and Global South (N = 323 participants), this article traces public preferences for a variety of bottom-up and top-down engagement practices ranging from information recipient to broad decision authority. Here, we show that engagement practices need to be responsive to local political cultures and socio-technical environments, while attending to the global dimensions and interconnectedness of the issues at stake. Establishing public engagement as a cornerstone of inclusive and sustainable governance of climate-intervention technologies requires (i) recognizing the diversity of forms and intensities of engaging, (ii) considering national contexts and modes of engagement, (iii) tailoring to technological idiosyncrasies, (iv) adopting power-sensitive practices, (v) accounting for publics’ prior experience, (vi) establishing trust and procedural legitimacy and (vii) engaging with tensions and value disagreements.
Debnath, R., Zhang, P., Qin, T., Alvarez, R. M., & Fitzgerald, S. D. (2024). Deciphering public attention to geoengineering and climate issues using machine learning and dynamic analysis. arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.07010. Abstract As the conversation around using geoengineering to combat climate change intensifies, it is imperative to engage the public and deeply understand their perspectives on geoengineering research, development, and potential deployment. Through a comprehensive data-driven investigation, this paper explores the types of news that captivate public interest in geoengineering. We delved into 30,773 English-language news articles from the BBC and the New York Times, combined with Google Trends data spanning 2018 to 2022, to explore how public interest in geoengineering fluctuates in response to news coverage of broader climate issues. Using BERT-based topic modeling, sentiment analysis, and time-series regression models, we found that positive sentiment in energy-related news serves as a good predictor of heightened public interest in geoengineering, a trend that persists over time. Our findings suggest that public engagement with geoengineering and climate action is not uniform, with some topics being more potent in shaping interest over time, such as climate news related to energy, disasters, and politics. Understanding these patterns is crucial for scientists, policymakers, and educators aiming to craft effective strategies for engaging with the public and fostering dialogue around emerging climate technologies.
Brodowsky, C. V., Sukhodolov, T., Chiodo, G., Aquila, V., Bekki, S., Dhomse, S. S., ... & Peter, T. (2024). Analysis of the global atmospheric background sulfur budget in a multi-model framework. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 24(9), 5513-5548. Abstract A growing number of general circulation models are adapting interactive sulfur and aerosol schemes to improve the representation of relevant physical and chemical processes and associated feedbacks. They are motivated by investigations of climate response to major volcanic eruptions and potential solar geoengineering scenarios. However, uncertainties in these schemes are not well constrained. Stratospheric sulfate is modulated by emissions of sulfur-containing species of anthropogenic and natural origin, including volcanic activity. While the effects of volcanic eruptions have been studied in the framework of global model intercomparisons, the background conditions of the sulfur cycle have not been addressed in such a way. Here, we fill this gap by analyzing the distribution of the main sulfur species in nine global atmospheric aerosol models for a volcanically quiescent period. We use observational data to evaluate model results. Overall, models agree that the three dominant sulfur species in terms of burdens (sulfate aerosol, OCS, and SO2) make up about 98 % stratospheric sulfur and 95 % tropospheric sulfur. However, models vary considerably in the partitioning between these species. Models agree that anthropogenic emission of SO2 strongly affects the sulfate aerosol burden in the northern hemispheric troposphere, while its importance is very uncertain in other regions, where emissions are much lower. Sulfate aerosol is the main deposited species in all models, but the values deviate by a factor of 2. Additionally, the partitioning between wet and dry deposition fluxes is highly model dependent. Inter-model variability in the sulfur species is low in the tropics and increases towards the poles. Differences are largest in the dynamically active northern hemispheric extratropical region and could be attributed to the representation of the stratospheric circulation. The differences in the atmospheric sulfur budget among the models arise from the representation of both chemical and dynamical processes, whose interplay complicates the bias attribution. Several problematic points identified for individual models are related to the specifics of the chemistry schemes, model resolution, and representation of cross-tropopause transport in the extratropics. Further model intercomparison research is needed with a focus on the clarification of the reasons for biases, given the importance of this topic for the stratospheric aerosol injection studies.
Wiener, J. B., & Felgenhauer, T. (2024). The Evolving International Climate Change Regime: Mitigation, Adaptation, Reflection. Texas A&M Law Review, 11(2), 451-485. Abstract The complex international regime for climate change has evolved over the past three decades, from the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol through the Paris Agreement and beyond. We assess this evolution from the 1990s to the 2020s, and its potential future evolution from the 2020s to the 2050s, across three main policy strategies: mitigation, adaptation, and reflection. In its first three decades, the regime has focused predominantly on the mitigation of net emissions and on engaging all major emitting countries in that effort. More recently, as progress on mitigation has been slow and as the impacts of climate change have risen around the world, the regime has begun to address adaptation. The next three decades may see the rise of a third strategy, reflection, if actors (collectively or unilaterally) perceive an urgent need to alleviate peak climate damages through fast-acting but controversial and risky climate interventions known as sunlight reflection methods or solar radiation modification (SRM). Several major international groups have recently issued reports on SRM, yet the international climate change regime has not yet constructed a governance regime for assessment or management of SRM. We recommend and outline comprehensive risk-risk tradeoff analyses of SRM to help avoid harmful countervailing risks. We suggest the development of an adaptive governance regime, starting early and embracing iterative and inclusive learning and updating over time. We urge that among the first key steps should be the development of a transparent international monitoring system for SRM. Such a monitoring system could provide early warning and help deter any unilateral SRM, assess the intended and unintended global and regional impacts of any research or eventual deployment of SRM, foster collective deliberation and reduce the risk of international conflict over SRM, help attribute adverse side effects of SRM to assist those adversely affected, and aid learning to improve the system adaptively over time. Thus, any reflection (of sunlight) should involve ongoing reflection (analysis and revision). Such an SRM monitoring regime is needed before SRM might be deployed, and can be developed at the same time that the focus of current efforts remains on mitigation and adaptation.
Brodowsky, C. V., Sukhodolov, T., Chiodo, G., Aquila, V., Bekki, S., Dhomse, S. S., ... & Peter, T. (2024). Analysis of the global atmospheric background sulfur budget in a multi-model framework. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 24(9), 5513-5548.
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PODCASTSBlocking out the Sun | Tech Zero | Blocking out the Sun Tech Zero 32:06 |
"It might sound like science fiction, but a mix of scientists and venture capitalists are working on plans to block the sun to slow global warming."
YOUTUBE VIDEOSImitating Volcanoes | ToSaveTheWorld "John Nissen, Robert Tulip, Doug Grandt, and Robin Collins belong to webinar groups studying Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI) as a way of cooling the planet by the same means as volcanoes do. Greg Evans is an expert on aerosols at U of Toronto. We discuss the pros and cons of attempting such a project at full scale."
SAI | ToSaveTheWorld Fire from Ice | Daniel Kieve "This song by Daniel Kieve is about the need for direct cooling technology to help achieve climate repair (including a reference to brightening the clouds to turn the tide on our otherwise grim future."
Cooling Earth: Can Iron Filings Reflect Our Way Out? | Daniel Izzo "Your concern about global warming and the urgency to find solutions is very valid. The idea of creating a cloud to reflect sunlight and cool the planet, known as solar geoengineering, is an interesting and complex topic. Let's break down the key points of your proposal and explore its feasibility."
Critical Youth Talks on Solar Geoengineering | MindOurFuture! "In the first event hosted by Mind Our Future!, youth and scholars gathered to discuss critical approaches to the topic of solar geoengineering, its governance, and the surrounding debate. The event featured Dr. Rak Kim, who shared insights on solar geoengineering as a case of problem shifting where focus is diverted away from addressing the root causes of climate change. The event also featured Dr. Rolando Vázquez Melken who approached solar geoengineering from a decolonial perspective, critiquing the fundamental thought that we could think to change the atmosphere before we change ourselves."
I Asked The UK Government About Geoengineering Projects | Lewis Brackpool "Last month, I submitted seven comprehensive Freedom of Information requests to various governmental departments, seeking details about any geoengineering projects in the UK. This included inquiries about research initiatives, publications, funding sources, public awareness and consent, involvement of airliners, stakeholder engagement, and more. In this video, I’ll share the responses I’ve received from two departments. All information will be made available in the video description for you, the viewer, to review. This investigation is far from over, with ongoing requests pending and more revelations to come."
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