Read the second issue of the Co-CREATE Newsletter released in December 2024. In it you can find updates from the project coordinator, publications, events and several Work Package updates.
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Co-CREATE Newsletter: Issue #2
A word from the Project Coordinator
Matthias Honegger (Perspectives Climate Group)
Climate change has been making headlines over recent weeks, as world leaders gathered in Azerbaijan for COP29 and, at the same time, unprecedented extreme weather events have taken place across the planet. Added to this year’s broader backdrop of momentous elections, tightening public budgets, and increasingly visible climate impacts, many are left wondering –– how did we get here?
Admittedly, COP29 concluded with some progress on the coordination of international carbon markets and climate finance. Yet none of this addresses the near-term climate risks we are already experiencing. From relentless flooding in Spain, to record-breaking storms in the Philippines and the US, droughts and wildfire in Ecuador and the US – hundreds of events around the world are already made more likely and intense by climate change.
Acknowledging this increasingly dire state and outlook can be difficult. However, if we are to resolve these questions, we must engage with the subject matter.
The discussion on SRM research governance is picking up more widely. In October, the American Geophysical Union (AGU) published an Ethical Framework which provides orientation for research funders, researchers, and policymakers. We encourage you to take a close look and identify any opportunities to implement or build on these principles. We certainly will do so, as we start to develop Co-CREATE’s core outputs including decision-support tools, guidelines, and principles for SRM research. More recently, we also welcome the three European reports published on December 9th examining the broader range of issues and governance implications of SRM. We will reflect on their implications alongside other ongoing discussions in the work of Co-CREATE.
We have continued our engagement with the SRM research community over recent months. In September, we met with diverse SRM experts to discuss the contours of different potential types of field experiments, as a starting point for case studies to be researched by the project in the coming months. In November, we also hosted our first meetings with Co-CREATE Advisory Board members. This is a group of incredibly thoughtful individuals, who are generously giving their time and sharing their expertise to help us create the highest possible value in our work. You can expect further news about this Board in the coming months.
On behalf of the Co-CREATE Consortium, I want to express our continued invitation to share your thoughts and suggestions, as we jointly seek to figure out how the EU might address SRM research governance wisely and responsibly.
Upcoming Events
- UPCOMING CONFERENCE
2025 Degrees Global Forum (Cape Town, South Africa; May 2025)The Co-CREATE Consortium will participate in the 2025 Degrees Global Forum, taking place from 12 to 16 May in Cape Town, South Africa. The conference will gather hundreds of researchers, NGO representatives, policymakers, thought leaders, and journalists from around the world. It will provide a much-needed space to discuss the scientific, social, and political dimensions of SRM and emphasise the Global South in SRM dialogues. Visit the conference website for more information.
Updates from the Co-CREATE Consortium
Work Package 2: Scoping challenges and requirements for SRM research governance
Ben Redmond Roche (Department of Earth Science, University College London)
WP2 has made significant strides in advancing the understanding of SRM’s ethical, legal, and governance dimensions. In September, we published a report addressing the legal landscape surrounding SRM, mapping existing frameworks at both the international and EU levels to assess their governance implications. More recently, we have also developed a comprehensive report on current SRM research (Deliverable 2.1), mapping out historic field tests and the three most recognised SRM techniques: Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI), Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB), as well as Cirrus Cloud Thinning and Mixed-Phase Cloud Thinning (CCT and MCT) (Available soon!).
In early September, UCL hosted a workshop gathering 25 international experts to explore the potential scope and governance needs for different SRM field experiments. The session sparked robust debates on the technical requirements for small-scale field experiments and the regulatory frameworks necessary for responsible governance. Findings from this workshop will be synthesised into an upcoming journal article – SRM Field Experiments: A Review and Typology of Possible Experiments – planned for publication in early 2025. This publication will also offer a structured review of the scientific and technical knowledge relevant to SRM experiments.
In the coming months, WP2 will conduct in-depth case studies on SRM field tests. These case studies will examine the scientific, legal, ethical, participatory, and governance dimensions associated with SRM. Publication is planned for early 2025.
Key SRM themes explored at the workshop.
Work Package 3: Scientific and technical dimensions of SRM research
Anni Määttänen and Iván Hernández Galindo (Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace – Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)
Over the last months, our primary objective has been to conduct a comprehensive literature review and assess past experiments related to SRM. Our activities have focused on identifying key scientific and technical parameters that would have allowed the evaluation and monitoring of any SRM experiment planned in the past:
- Scientific Objectives, which provide the experiment with a scientific justification: (e.g.) understanding small-scale atmospheric processes such as aerosol-cloud interactions, which would dictate the climatic impact of an SRM experiment.
- Feasibility and Achievability: Experiments should be designed to be technically feasible and capable of achieving its (scientific) objectives.
- Reversibility: Experiments should use methods that can be halted or adjusted in response to monitoring data, and whose atmospheric impact is rapidly reversible.
- Uncertainties: Experimental projects need to be able to quantify their related uncertainties in order to correctly interpret their results. This requires continuous measurements and careful data analysis.
- Monitorability (Signal Detection): Effective monitoring systems facilitate the real-time analysis of environmental changes due to SRM, helping to monitor the experiment’s progress as well as its achievability.
- Indicators for Contingency Planning: These indicators can guide decision-making processes, e.g., on when to implement exit ramps or modify experimental strategies.
In the coming months, we will continue refining these parameters, which will eventually be integrated into the SRM research governance frameworks developed by the project.
Work Package 5: Recent debates on possible scenarios of cooperative vs unilateral SRM interventions
Soheil Shayegh (RFF-CMCC – European Institute on Economics and the Environment)
WP4 and WP5 have been collaborating closely to discuss the legal and ethical dimensions of SRM research governance, which will feed into the risk assessment frameworks currently being developed by WP5. The differentiation of legal and ethical risks derived from SRM research – as opposed to those derived from SRM deployment – is a crucial focus for this endeavour.
In September, Massimo Tavoni and Pietro Andreoni (CMCC) and Matthias Honegger (Perspectives) participated in the 2024 SRM Social Science Workshop held by Resources for the Future in Washington DC, USA. Participants discussed the consequences and characteristics of potential scenarios of SRM deployment today.
The workshop aimed to characterise two distinct narratives of SRM deployment: collaborative or coalitional management, and non-cooperative or unilateral deployment. Participants highlighted various areas of research. The Workshop ventured into exploring future potential geopolitical dynamics including questions of capabilities around the world and strategic reasons for cooperation versus competition. Recordings and working papers presented at the workshop can be found here. Participants also discussed the key elements that would help ensure a multilateral and inclusive approach to the question of deployment: ensuring appropriate international governance, considering public perception, and reaching an agreed understanding (incl. the Global South) on what constitutes (un)desirable deployment.
Work Package 6: Upcoming work on stakeholder perceptions of SRM research governance
Kate Sambrook (University of Manchester)
At the end of July, the University of Manchester hired Kate Sambrook as a full-time Research Associate on WP6. Since her appointment, WP6 has advanced on a review paper on existing studies of public perception of solar geoengineering.
The Consortium met for a collaborative workshop on October 28th, to scope the range of potential participants and strengthen our interview questions. As a result, we have captured a diverse range of potential interviewees from across academia, government, business, and civil society groups, as well as a variety of relevant interview questions on research governance principles. In the coming months, we will start undertaking semi-structured interviews to collate views and perspectives from these stakeholders.
Work Package 8: Fostering inclusive debates on SRM research and governance
Inés H. Jiménez Rodríguez (Climate Strategies)
As the research moves forward, the Co-CREATE Consortium has helped to advance important dialogues on SRM research governance.
In September, the project hosted its first public seminar, titled ‘The role of public engagement and participation in SRM research’. Attendees heard from Matthias Honegger (Co-CREATE Project Lead) and Shuchi Talati (Founder and Executive Director of DSG – Alliance for Just Deliberations on Solar Geoengineering), as they discussed the vision driving DSG and identified some of the missing ingredients for a healthy SRM research ecosystem. You can listen to Shuchi and Matthias’ conversation on the Co-CREATE website.
The Co-CREATE project was also present at COP29, in Baku (Azerbaijan). Co-CREATE project coordinator Matthias Honegger moderated a panel at a side event hosted by the Degrees Initiative and ClimateNet, titled ‘Solar Radiation Modification: A Conversation on Governance and Research’. The panel convened a diverse range of perspectives from UNEP, the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the Climate Overshoot Commission, and the DSG. Discussants acknowledged the risks, uncertainties, and potential of SRM research and deployment – and, noting the growing interest in SRM across the world, reaffirmed the importance of research governance.
On February 14th, we will host another Co-CREATE Seminar exploring key questions towards building a governance framework for responsible SRM research in the European Union. This will be a public event presenting recent findings and guiding principles from the Co-CREATE Project. In the context of the recent scientific advice provided to the European Union on SRM research governance, the event will also include constructive conversation with European Commission representatives on opportunities and considerations for SRM research governance. You can stay tuned for upcoming updates on our social media.
Furthermore, we will soon be sharing more news on the upcoming Webinar Series, which will provide the audience with a more definitive view on specific Co-CREATE outputs. Views on SRM research are diverse, and conversations can be contentious. Drawing from ongoing Co-CREATE research, these webinars intend to open a space for critical and productive dialogue on various aspects of SRM research governance. In doing so, we hope to contribute to a growing global dialogue on how society can grapple with this complex and contentious issue.
Co-CREATE Coordinator Matthias Honegger at the COP29 Event ‘Solar Radiation Modification: A Conversation on Governance and Research’, hosted by DEGREES and ClimateNet