Reflecting Risk: Rights-Based Global Decision-Making about Research and Testing of Solar Geoengineering Climate Tech  

Date: September 22, 2023 Location: Online Only

Solar geoengineering, or solar radiation modification, is a set of strategies to limit the warming effects of the Sun to counteract human-caused climate change. While some say the technology has the potential to reduce global temperatures, others view the physical manipulation of the atmosphere as too risky to consider. If these technologies are deployed, they have the potential to gravely impact the most vulnerable, who contributed least to the climate crisis.

In this panel, originally aired on September 22 at 12-1:00PM ET at the 2023 United Nations General Assembly’s Science Summit, scientists and policy experts reflecting different contexts in rich, middle-income, and developing countries, had an open discussion about the current state of research and tests on these technologies. The panelists highlighted how the current vacuum in collective deliberation and decision-making processes means that the scientifically and politically controversial strategies of solar radiation modification are developing largely ungoverned. They considered how different actors should contribute to fair, just, and well-considered processes with broad participation and collective deliberation at the global level.  

This panel was organized by the International Science Reserve and the New York Academy of Sciences.

Panelists include:

• Kate Marvel, Senior Scientist, Climate, Project Drawdown 
• Patrycja Sasnal, Visiting Professor, UCLA Institute of Environment and Sustainability  
• Michael Taylor, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology, The University of the West Indies 
• Nicholas Dirks, President and CEO, New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) (Moderator)