Climate systems engineering — consisting of open-systems carbon removal, sunlight reflection, and interventions to slow glacial melting — is increasingly part of the global debate about how societies could reduce the risks of climate change, alongside efforts to rapidly reduce carbon emissions. While these approaches vary in maturity, uncertainty, and policy implications, together they represent Read more...

Watch the recording of SRM360's live discussion on emissions cuts, projections, and the potential role of solar geoengineering (SRM).

Two scientists argue that the growing commercial efforts to counter climate change by reflecting away sunlight will thwart responsible research in the field.

By David Keith How to cool the planet? The energy infrastructure that powers our civilization must be rebuilt, replacing fossil fuels with carbon-free sources such as solar or nuclear. But even then, zeroing out emissions will not cool the planet. This is a direct consequence of the single most important fact about climate change:...

A small, carefully scaled geoengineering program could compensate for the loss of cooling as we eliminate sulfur pollution.

Geoengineering is “probably as dangerous to us as climate change itself,” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated on his podcast last year.

*David & Ed chat with Dr. Rose Mutiso (about the tension between energy, climate, and economic development in Africa and the global south.* They touch on many topics to do with sub-Saharan Africa, including energy production and consumption, electricity and power grids, and the vast economic inequ

Holly Buck led a session with Rose Mutiso and David Keith focused on how SRM fits into broader discussions of climate change solutions. The session began with a survey, engaging the audience to explore their own thoughts about SRM in the context of CDR, adaptation, and mitigation. Mutiso noted that

At the time of this post, David Keith was a professor in Harvard's Schools of Engineering and of Public Policy, and founder at Carbon Engineering. Edward Parson is professor and co-director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA, and senior research associate at the Centre for Global Studies,...

The impacts from climate change will continue to escalate in the years ahead, and a growing number of scientists, philanthropies and companies have become interested in strategies to lower global temperatures more quickly. One of the options is reflecting some sunlight back into space.   Because

Should Canada act now to build its SRM research capacity and leadership? How can we foster the local expertise and international partnerships we’ll need to control the technology should solar geoengineering become a reality?

"The climate crisis calls not for moderation, but for militant action." - Andreas Malm Join us for a live recording of Energy vs Climate with special guest Andreas Malm, author of How the World Surrendered to Climate Breakdown and How to Blow Up a Pipeline: Learning to Fight in a

A bottom-up norm-setting approach would rectify the concerns of agreeing to a global moratorium on solar radiation management deployment.

Most Britons say a drastic change in the steps taken to combat climate change is needed in order to avert its worst effects

For the first time, the growth in China’s clean power generation has caused the nation’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to fall despite rapid power demand growth.

For decades, insights from planetary aerosol research have pollinated geoscience research with ideas that carry significant societal relevance. Examples include how data from Mars dust storms helped inspire nuclear winter modeling—impacting Cold War arms control discussions—and how understanding the mechanisms linking asteroid impacts to mass extinctions motivated NASA’s successful Double Asteroid Redirection Test. Still, much Read more...

Experts debated the future of US climate diplomacy at an Institute event titled “Is Global Cooperation on Climate Change Possible?” on May 1. The panel featured former Foreign Minister of Pakistan Hina Rabbani Khar, former lead US climate lawyer and Principal Deputy Special Envoy for Climate Sue Bin

The 2025 Degrees Global Forum on SRM will be the largest conference to date on solar radiation modification (SRM).

I founded Carbon Engineering (CE) in 2009 to develop technology for capturing CO₂ from ambient air. This was an unusual choice for me because I’d spent my career in academia and had no business experience nor any strong interest in becoming an entrepreneur. Amazingly, this company grew from a few employees to over 160 when it was bought in November 2023 by Oxy Low Carbon Ventures at a valuation of $1.6 billion. I am no longer involved with CE nor do I have any financial interest in CE or Oxy.   It all started with skepticism. In the late 90's, Klaus Lackner started publishing on direct air capture (DAC) to counter climate change. Klaus and I shared a physicist's love for first-principles thinking and a drive to tackle climate, but I thought Klaus was overly optimistic about the cost of DAC. It...

Carbon offsets aren’t enough. To truly tackle climate change, we need a global industry dedicated to pulling carbon out of the air and at massive scale.