Climate Intervention Research May be Critical to a More Just and Safe Society
Published during United Nations Climate Week 2020.
Climate-related headlines have become so common that I fear we may start to normalize the terrible news. Wildfires fueled by extreme heat have burned more than 5 million acres in the American West. Earlier this month, thick smoke blanketed the west coast and made its way all the way across the country, harming health and darkening the sun. In the Arctic and Antarctic, warming temperatures are causing massive glaciers and ice shelves to break free, which will lead to unprecedented sea-level rise. For some of us, these extreme conditions are nerve-wracking and inconvenient, but for others, especially vulnerable populations in communities of color, they can be devastating.
Climate change threatens humanity as a whole, but, as we are seeing very clearly here in the U.S., racial equality and climate justice are inexorably linked. Communities of color are more vulnerable to climate change because, at an aggregate level, they face more hazardous environmental conditions and worse health outcomes. At the same time, communities of color are more often located in areas that will be hardest hit by early climate impacts. Climate justice is now essential to addressing racial justice in America, and we need to invest in research on a wide portfolio of options to ensure the health, safety, and the viability of these communities against a rapidly escalating problem.
Scientists have sounded the alarm on the risk of abrupt climate changes — the kind that could set off a cascade of dangerous consequences in the next 10 to 30 years. Currently, we lack the tools to adequately address these near-term climate “tipping points.” Even the most ambitious efforts to reduce greenhouse gases may not take effect quickly enough to ensure safety for people and stability for the natural systems that sustain them. There is a pressing need to expand the portfolio of climate options to include approaches with the potential to reduce warming rapidly.
Recent scientific assessments indicate that climate interventions such as increasing sunlight reflection from the atmosphere show promise to reduce warming within a decade or even a few years. The idea of climate intervention can be likened to emergency medicine for the climate’s rising fever. The most rapid “solar climate interventions” would leverage naturally occurring processes — the reflection of sunlight from particles and clouds in the atmosphere — to reduce warming in the next decade or two in order to protect people and natural systems while we reduce sufficient greenhouse gases, which will take many decades.
For example, researchers at the University of Washington are examining how emissions from ships brighten clouds and may temporarily cool climate. This research may help determine if using natural materials such as sea salt mist to brighten clouds over the ocean could help reduce warming and buy time for reducing greenhouse gases.
In a testament to the need for understanding rapid climate interventions, the National Academy of Sciences has undertaken a study to develop a research agenda and approach to governance, and Democrats in the House of Representatives recently recommended funding for atmospheric climate intervention in their Climate Action Plan.
But, predicting climate is one of the most challenging problems in science, and scientists believe it will take many years to understand the effectiveness and risks of these interventions well enough to know if they are a viable possibility. That’s why it is so important that we support such research now.
While there are some remarkable early research efforts, the field is woefully underfunded. Climate research overall comprises less than 0.2% of U.S. federal spending, while funding for research in solar climate interventions is just north of $10M per year worldwide.
The United States is the leading provider of climate models and data to the rest of the world, and its scientists and agencies are likely to play a critical role in research and assessment of climate interventions by others internationally. To advance society’s ability to assess these approaches, and promote shared knowledge for people around the world, the U.S. Congress should:
- Authorize a research program and oversight for experiments such as that proposed in H.R. 5519, The Atmospheric Climate Intervention Research Act introduced by Representative Jerry McNerney (D-CA-9).
- Support the forthcoming recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences panel.
- Double U.S. investment in climate research, as recommended in a 2018 report from the Center for American Progress.
As we have learned from the COVID crisis, scientific assessment and science-based decision-making will be critical to promote just outcomes and informed participation by all countries and communities. Alongside the U.N. Montreal Protocol Scientific Assessment Panel’s coverage of possible risks of stratospheric climate intervention to the ozone layer, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) should expand its analysis of abrupt climate change risks and rapid response options such as solar climate intervention by holding an expert meeting and considering a special report.
Philanthropists who are concerned with climate justice should consider support for climate intervention research among their investments in protecting vulnerable communities and, through efforts such as the Developing Countries Analysis of SRM (DECIMALS) Fund, participation in decisions about technological climate responses.
It is a profound injustice that the climate crisis has been disproportionately caused by the privileged in society. It’s a tragic reality that communities of color are more devastated by the impacts of climate change, both in the U.S. and around the world. A moving piece by Marissa Saenger, a research fellow at Harvard University’s Solar Geoengineering Research Program, notes that climate intervention would not correct injustices that drive unequal impacts of climate change, but could “directly address the rising global temperatures drastically intensifying disparity.” To protect the most vulnerable and ensure justice for those who are faced with the devastating consequences, it may crucial that we invest in research in interventions.
We have an imperative, and an opportunity, to ensure safety for all people. We have a duty and an obligation to redress harm and protect the most vulnerable. With research into “emergency medicine” with the potential to reduce warming rapidly, we might prevent enormous suffering and pave the way for a more just and safe society.
Kelly Wanser is Executive Director of SilverLining, a non-profit dedicated to ensuring a safe climate with the goal of preventing human suffering and sustaining natural systems in the context of near-term catastrophic climate risks. TED Talk: Emergency Medicine for Our Climate Fever
