Solar Radiation Modification and Loss and Damage: Mapping Interactions between Climate Responses

Although solar geoengineering (alternatively ‘solar radiation management’ or ‘solar radiation modification’) appears to offer a potentially effective, inexpensive and technologically feasible additional response to climate change, it would pose serious physical risks and social challenges. Governance of its research, development and deployment is thus salient. This article reviews proposals for governing solar geoengineering. Its research may warrant dedicated governance to facilitate effectiveness and to reduce direct and socially mediated risks. Because states are not substantially engaging with solar geoengineering, non-state actors can play important governance roles. Although the concern that solar geoengineering would harmfully lessen abatement of greenhouse gas emissions is widespread, what can be done to reduce such displacement remains unclear. A moratorium on outdoor activities that would surpass certain scales is often endorsed, but an effective one would require resolving some critical, difficult details. In the long term, how to legitimately make decisions regarding whether, when and how solar geoengineering would be used is central, and suggestions how to do so diverge. Most proposals to govern commercial actors, who could provide goods and services for solar geoengineering, focus on intellectual property policy. Compensation for possible harm from outdoor activities could be through liability or a compensation fund. The review closes with suggested lines of future inquiry.

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Potential implications of solar radiation modification for achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change ◽

10.1007/s11027-021-09958-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 26 (5) ◽

Author(s):

Matthias Honegger ◽

Axel Michaelowa ◽

Jiahua Pan

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Sustainable Development ◽

Solar Radiation ◽

Sustainable Development Goals ◽

Stratospheric Aerosol ◽

Expert Elicitation ◽

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Additional Layer ◽

Radiation Modification ◽

Development Goals

AbstractSolar radiation modification, particularly stratospheric aerosol injection, holds the potential to reduce the impacts of climate change on sustainable development, yet could itself generate negative impacts and is subject to intense scholarly debate based on relatively little evidence. Based on expert elicitation involving over 30 individuals with backgrounds across the domains of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we identify a broad range of potential implications of solar radiation modification for the SDGs. Depending on design and application scenarios, applications could potentially assist in the pursuit of several of the goals by limiting temperature rise and limiting acceleration in atmospheric water cycles as well as extreme weather events. However, by adding to particulates, introducing an additional layer of complexity and potential for conflict in global governance, as well as otherwise altering planetary environments, they might also detract from the pursuit of SDGs and introduce novel risks. The overall impact of solar radiation modification on sustainable development is currently highly uncertain and dependent on climate change mitigation pathways and governance. We identify key areas for further transdisciplinary research the pursuit of which might reduce some uncertainty and help inform emerging governance processes.

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An Approach to Scientific and Legislative Governance of Solar Radiation Modification Research in the United States

Journal of Science Policy & Governance ◽

10.38126/jspg180207 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (02) ◽

Author(s):

Neva Luthria ◽

Steven L. Farrell ◽

Ingrid Joylyn Paredes

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Solar Radiation ◽

The United States ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Small Scale ◽

Intergovernmental Panel ◽

Ethical Implications ◽

The Us ◽

Radiation Modification ◽

Climate Crisis

The climate crisis requires immediate, rapid, and responsible action across all sectors. Without implementation of aggressive mitigation strategies, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that we will fail to remain below the catastrophic global warming threshold of 1.5°C. Climate engineering technologies, such as carbon dioxide removal and solar radiation modification (SRM), have been proposed as mitigation strategies, but have not been deployed at scale. In addition to the scaling problems, SRM technologies, particularly stratospheric aerosol injection, have faced criticism over ethical implications of their implementation. The United Nations (UN) efforts to introduce international governance over SRM have been blocked by several countries, including the United States (US). Meanwhile, domestic researchers in the US have independently pursued small-scale experiments. The effects of these experiments remain uncertain, yet, if scaled, extend to non-consenting countries, including those already more susceptible to the climate crisis. We recommend that the US (1) stop blocking the UN from pursuing research into the impacts of SRM to allow for equitable governance options to be explored and (2) establish a national advisory committee on solar geoengineering.

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Supplementary material to "Identifying the sources of uncertainty in climate model simulations of solar radiation modification with the G6sulfur and G6solar Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project (GeoMIP) simulations"

10.5194/acp-2021-133-supplement ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Daniele Visioni ◽

Douglas G. MacMartin ◽

Ben Kravitz ◽

Olivier Boucher ◽

Andy Jones ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Solar Radiation ◽

Climate Model ◽

Model Intercomparison ◽

Model Simulations ◽

Sources Of Uncertainty ◽

Radiation Modification ◽

Intercomparison Project ◽

Supplementary Material ◽

Climate Model Simulations

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Solar Radiation Modification: a multi-century commitment

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-9673 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Susanne Baur ◽

Alexander Nauels ◽

Carl-Friedrich Schleussner

Keyword(s):

Side Effects ◽

Solar Radiation ◽

Large Scale ◽

Climate Model ◽

Radiation Modification ◽

Emissions Scenarios ◽

Negative Side Effects ◽

Cumulative Risks ◽

Lock In ◽

Phase Out

A growing body of literature investigates the effects of Solar Radiation Modification (SRM) on global and regional climates. Previous studies on SRM have mainly focused on potentials and side effects of deployment without addressing plausible avenues of a subsequent phase-out. This would require large-scale carbon dioxide removal (CDR). Here, we look at SRM deployment lengths to keep global temperature increase to 1.5&#176;C under three emissions scenarios that follow current climate policies until 2100 and are continued with varying assumptions about the magnitude of net-negative CDR (-11.5, -10 and -5 GtCO2yr-1). Our results show that there would be a lock-in of around 245 - 315 years of continuous SRM engagement. During peak deployment in 2125 around 2.80 Wm-2 would have to be compensated by SRM, a number at the upper end of currently estimated maximum SRM potential in climate model environments. In total, around 976 - 1344 GtCO2would need to be removed from the atmosphere via CDR. We find only minor effects of SRM on carbon fluxes a few decades after cessation. Our study shows that even if SRM is combined with high CDR, SRM would come with very long legacies of deployment, implying centuries of costs, cumulative risks and all negative side effects of SRM and CDR combined.&#160;

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Solar Radiation Modification Slows Down Permafrost Carbon Loss

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-1740 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Yangxin Chen ◽

Duoying Ji

Keyword(s):

Solar Radiation ◽

Soil Carbon ◽

Surface Air Temperature ◽

Carbon Accumulation ◽

Permafrost Region ◽

Permafrost Degradation ◽

Carbon Loss ◽

Microbial Decomposition ◽

Radiation Modification ◽

Lower Temperature

&#160; &#160; Circumpolar permafrost is degrading under anthropogenic global warming, thus the large amount of soil organic carbon in it would be vulnerable to microbial decomposition and further aggravating future warming. However, solar radiation modification (SRM), as a theoretical approach to reducing some of the impacts of anthropogenic climate change, hopefully could mitigate the permafrost degradation and slow down permafrost carbon loss. Here we use two solar geoengineering experiments came up in CMIP6/GeoMIP6 -- G6solar and G6sulfur, to explore changes in circumpolar permafrost carbon under solar radiation modification scenarios. Earth system models' simulations show that under G6 scenarios, annual mean surface air temperature in circumpolar permafrost region is about 5&#8451; lower relative to the high forcing scenario SSP5-8.5 by year 2100, with a growing trend but remains below 0&#8451; from 2015 to 2100, which is close to that in the medium forcing scenario SSP2-4.5. The lower temperature causes lower degradation rate of permafrost area. In SSP5-8.5 scenario, almost all the permafrost thaws by year 2100, but up to half of it remains frozen in SSP2-4.5 and G6 scenarios compared to year 2015. The lower temperature also results in less carbon assimilation in this area, thus the lower vegetation carbon accumulation. By 2100, a maximum soil carbon loss of 18.09 PgC under SSP5-8.5 scenario regarding to different model constructions, while in G6 the soil carbon loss could be reduce to 3.70 PgC, even less than that of 5.29 PgC in SSP2-4.5 scenario.

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Report Details Solar Radiation Alert and Recommendations

Space Weather ◽

10.1029/2006sw000251 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 4 (6) ◽

pp. n/a-n/a ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Tracy Staedter

Keyword(s):

Solar Radiation

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