Exploring Climate Cooling
This £56.8m programme aims to build a robust evidence base to explore – with independent oversight – if climate cooling approaches could ever be feasible, scalable, safe, and governable.
Funded projects
Our 22 funded research teams unite specialists across diverse disciplines – from atmospheric physics, chemistry, and climate modelling to chemical engineering, systems analysis, oceanography, and radiative transfer, alongside crucial expertise in governance and ethics – reflecting the programme's holistic approach. This group shares a deep commitment to objective research conducted transparently and responsibly, aiming to navigate the complex ethical dimensions and establish best practices within this field.
Projects will utilise a range of methodologies, including modelling, observations and monitoring, indoor testing and – where strictly necessary and in accordance with our oversight and governance principles – small scale, controlled outdoor experiments.
The programme will also fund projects exploring the broader societal aspects of this scientific research, including methods for public engagement, public attitudes to the field, and governance.
This research explores the crucial governance and ethical dimensions that must accompany any scientific investigation of climate cooling approaches. It includes work on potential governance frameworks, the development of engagement toolkits with Arctic and UK communities, understanding public perceptions in South Asia and the Philippines, and building research capacity across the Global South – all help ensure that this research field evolves inclusively and responsibly.
Strategic Foresight on Climate and Geopolitics: Toward governance of earth cooling approaches
Project Lead: Matthias Honegger, Centre for Future Generations
Award: £1.25 million over 17 months
Key team members and approximate budget breakdown: Matthias Honegger, Cynthia Scharf, Centre for Future Generations (£420k) | Trish Lavery, Australian National University Futures Hub (£150k) | Rafal Kierzenkowski, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (£220k) | Danielle Young, University of Leeds (£460k)
Understanding if and how earth cooling approaches could be responsibly governed is critical in light of accelerating climate impacts and the risk of unwise use. This team will explore how these approaches could be responsibly governed at the global level in various future scenarios. They will start by outlining scenarios variously shaped by growing climate impacts, geopolitical challenges, the need for ongoing mitigation efforts, and the public’s views. Their research will survey existing debates in both academic and policy circles, and discuss with policy makers and civil society organisations the risks, benefits and uncertainties they expect. Based on these scenarios, the project aims to develop foundational governance ideas to help ensure future decisions are socially and scientifically informed.
View the full grant agreement for this project, which outlines its objectives, milestones, and deliverables here.
How to speak about climate cooling? Co-creating an engagement toolkit in the Arctic and the UK
Award: £360k over 45 months
Key team members and approximate budget breakdown: Ine Steenmans + Chloe Colomer, University College London (£314k) | Cody Skahan, University of Oxford (£23k) | Albert van Wijngaarden, University of Cambridge (£23k)
Emerging climate cooling approaches raise profound ethical and societal questions. Meaningful dialogues are therefore a prerequisite for ensuring that research on, and governance of, these approaches will be just and inclusive. This is especially true in the Arctic, a region where the voices of people who will be amongst the most impacted are often left out of conversations because of ongoing and historical power imbalances. This team will explore how people want to speak about climate cooling, and how they form and change their views over time. It will move beyond social opinion research by co-designing engagement programmes with local communities and rightsholders across the Arctic and in three UK locations. Beyond the aim of empowering communities to participate more fully in governance, research, and decision-making around these new scientific approaches for cooling the earth, the learnings from these engagements will be captured in a practical, open access toolkit that can be used for future engagement projects around climate cooling.
View the full grant agreement for this project, which outlines its objectives, milestones, and deliverables here.
Evidence-based Assessments to Guide Perceptions, Governance, and Ethical Frameworks for South Asia: Comparing marine cloud brightening strategies vis-à-vis carbon dioxide removal and mitigation efforts
Project Lead: Athar Hussain, COMSATS University
Award: £574k over 3 years
Key team members and approximate budget breakdown: Athar Hussain, COMSATS University (£532k) | Thomas Fischer, University of Liverpool (£5k) | Sajida Kousar, International Islamic University (£8k) | Hassaan Sipra, The Alliance for Just Deliberation on Solar Geoengineering (£9k) | Muhammad Mumtaz, Fatima Jinnah Women University (£20k)
This project provides a comparative analysis of potential climate response pathways – evaluating the implications in South Asia of marine cloud brightening (MCB) against carbon dioxide removal efforts and conventional mitigation approaches. This analysis combines climate science, governance research, direct stakeholder engagement, and policy analysis, deepening our understanding of potential climate cooling technologies within the ethical, governance and social context of South Asia. This work will empower decisionmakers and communities in South Asia to develop inclusive, effective, and locally-grounded climate action strategies.
View the full grant agreement for this project, which outlines its objectives, milestones, and deliverables here.
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