• We aim to produce research that advances solar geoengineering’s science and technology frontier, publishing high-impact papers, and disseminating ideas that are taken up by other researchers and government research programs.

  • To take an active stance on research with a unique mandate to develop new path-breaking technologies that might improve solar geoengineering’s effectiveness and reduce its risks.

  • To employ Harvard’s convening power to bring together scientists, environmental leaders, and government officials to discuss the technology and its governance.

SCoPEx Announcement

The Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment (SCoPEx) is a scientific effort initiated by Professors David Keith and Frank Keutsch at Harvard University. SCoPEx was designed to measure the stratospheric behavior of aerosols in plumes to advance scientific knowledge relevant to potential future implementation of solar geoengineering. In 2019, the University established an external advisory committee to provide guidance on SCoPEx. Today, the Advisory Committee issued its final report to the Vice Provost for Research and the Vice Provost for Climate and Sustainability.

Read the full announcement and report 

 

What is Geoengineering?

Geoengineering refers to a set of emerging technologies that could manipulate the environment and partially offset some of the impacts of climate change.

Solar geoengineering in particular could not be a replacement for reducing emissions (mitigation) or coping with a changing climate (adaptation); yet, it could supplement these efforts.

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Projects

Frank Keutsch — Heterogeneous Chemistry and Ageing of Designer Aerosol Particles to Assess the Risk of Solar Geoengineering

This project proposes laboratory investigations of alternate materials with properties that may make them more suitable candidates for stratospheric SRM. Specifically, the project proposes studies that address direct physical risks associated with SRM, i.e., effects on stratospheric ozone and temperature, and consequences when particles settle through the lower stratosphere into the troposphere, i.e. impacts on tropospheric chemistry, composition and radiation. This only represents one vignette of the risks associated with stratospheric SRM, but it is critical to quantify these risks as soon... Read more about Frank Keutsch — Heterogeneous Chemistry and Ageing of Designer Aerosol Particles to Assess the Risk of Solar Geoengineering
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Robert Stavins — Governance of Solar Geoengineering: Advancing Understanding and Action

This project sought to advance our understanding of a key set of governance issues and, it is hoped, move the research community some steps further toward a shared set of assumptions and consensus on options for solar geoengineering governance. The core of the approach was to assemble a group of global experts in a structured dialogue, based on existing and new research, to identify and advance answers to challenging governance questions.

In September 2018, the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements with collaboration and support from Harvard’s Solar Geoengineering...

Read more about Robert Stavins — Governance of Solar Geoengineering: Advancing Understanding and Action
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