Journal Article - Science

Social Science Research to Inform Solar Geoengineering

    Authors:
  • Tyler Felgenhauer
  • William A. Pizer
  • Massimo Tavoni
  • Mariia Belaia
  • Mark E. Borsuk
  • Arunabha Ghosh
  • Garth Heutel
  • Daniel Heyen
  • Christine Merk
  • Juan B. Moreno-Cruz
  • Jesse L. Reynolds
  • Katharine Ricke
  • Wilfried Rickels
  • Soheil Shayegh
  • Wake Smith
  • Simone Tilmes
  • Jonathan B. Wiener
| Nov. 12, 2021

What are the benefits and drawbacks, and for whom?

Abstract

As the prospect of average global warming exceeding 1.5°C becomes increasingly likely, interest in supplementing mitigation and adaptation with solar geoengineering (SG) responses will almost certainly rise. For example stratospheric aerosol injection to cool the planet could offset some of the warming for a given accumulation of atmospheric greenhouse gases (1). However, the physical and social science literature on SG remains modest compared with mitigation and adaptation. The authors outline three research themes for advancing policy-relevant social science related to SG: (i) SG costs, benefits, risks, and uncertainty; (ii) the political economy of SG deployment; and (iii) SG’s role in a climate strategy portfolio.

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For more information on this publication: Belfer Communications Office
For Academic Citation:

Aldy, Joseph, Tyler Felgenhauer, William A. Pizer, Massimo Tavoni, Mariia Belaia, Mark E. Borsuk, Arunabha Ghosh, Garth Heutel, Daniel Heyen, Joshua Horton, David Keith, Christine Merk, Juan B. Moreno-Cruz, Jesse L. Reynolds, Katharine Ricke, Wilfried Rickels, Soheil Shayegh, Wake Smith, Simone Tilmes, Gernot Wagner and Jonathan B. Wiener. "Social Science Research to Inform Solar Geoengineering." Science, vol. 374. no. 6569. (November 12, 2021): 8i5–818

The Authors

Tyler Felgenhauer

William A. Pizer

Massimo Tavoni

Mariia Belaia

Mark E. Borsuk

Arunabha Ghosh

Garth Heutel

Daniel Heyen

David Keith

David Keith

  • Former Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
  • Former Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics, SEAS, Harvard University
Expertise:

Christine Merk

Juan B. Moreno-Cruz

Jesse L. Reynolds

Katharine Ricke

Wilfried Rickels

Soheil Shayegh

Wake Smith

Simone Tilmes

Jonathan B. Wiener

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