The Co-CREATE consortium will investigate the governance principles and guidelines for responsible Solar Radiation Modification research. While Solar Radiation Modification research holds potential for addressing the climate crisis, it also poses major risks and is highly speculative. CMCC, along with other European partners, will develop decision-support tools and conduct governance analysis on this contentious set of technologies.

The CMCC Foundation is joining a group of European research institutions that will examine the governance principles and guidelines for responsible Solar Radiation Modification (SRM) research. With its extensive expertise in the field of climate governance analysis, CMCC will contribute to the development of specific tools aimed at supporting decision-making, such as risk evaluation frameworks, scenarios, and identifying lessons from governance analogues for a future SRM research governance framework.

The consortium announced the launch of Co-CREATE – a European Union funded project which has as a general objective to develop and propose – jointly with stakeholders – conditions for and elements of a possible governance framework for experimental Solar Radiation Modification research in the European Research Area. It structures the complex and normatively ambiguous decision problem surrounding SRM research to support decisions on the circumstances under which some experimental research may be appropriate.

SRM technologies aim to limit global warming by reducing the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth’s surface – reflecting sunlight or increasing how much heat escapes back into space. One example of SRM is Stratospheric Aerosol Injection which involves releasing reflective particles into the upper atmosphere to increase the reflection of sunlight back into space.

Views on SRM research are diverse and often speculative, given the limited knowledge surrounding the efficacy and side effects of SRM. Some are concerned that research and development of SRM would distract from vital efforts to reduce emissions. Others view SRM as a potential opportunity to limit heating, avoid dangerous ecological tipping points, and protect humanity from the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Many remain undecided, but see a need to study risks, uncertainties and potential benefits of SRM research. The project will not investigate SRM deployment.

“As mitigation efforts have fallen short of achieving temperature targets, the call for more radical climate interventions such as SRM, with uncertain consequences for climate and humanities, has grown louder,” says CMCC’s Soheil Shayegh, a scientist at the European Institute on Economics and the Environment (EIEE). “By developing new climate change scenarios considering the possibility of SRM research as well as drawing parallels with other examples of controversial technologies, CMCC will develop novel risk assessment frameworks to help decision makers better understand the potential contribution and risks of SRM to climate stabilization”.

The Co-CREATE project sets out to achieve several goals: clarifying critical dimensions of SRM research experiments and their associated risks and potential; defining SRM and assessing the applicability of existing regulatory guidance, including its limitations; establishing conditions for robust SRM research governance, evaluation frameworks, and principles and guidelines; and proposing an inclusive process for expert and stakeholder dialogue.

The project engages with diverse stakeholders and rightsholders, including marginalized and affected communities such as indigenous peoples in the Arctic and communities in the Global South. This collaborative approach will anchor project results in a diversity of voices, cultural contexts, and value-systems, reflecting the grappling of society with this complex and contentious issue.

More information:

The Co-CREATE project is implemented by a European consortium led by Perspectives Climate Research based in Germany. The consortium includes 14 research institutions and individuals from Finland, Germany, the UK, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Ireland and Poland.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement 10113764 and by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the UK government’s Horizon European funding guarantee (No. 10123643). Further information can be found on the Co-CREATE Website.