Current investment in solar geoengineering is roughly 10 million annually (this may have increased in the last few years), so by most metrics it’s really neglected. The main project working on this is the Harvard solar geoengineering research program, which OPP has funded about 2.5 million dollars for a few years in 2016. They’ve also funded a solar governance program in 2017 for about 2 million dollars. Grants here. Recently, they don’t appear to have made any climate-related grants in this space, and its unclear to me what the funding situation looks like.
Regarding states that have committed to doing things: I didn’t find anything on doing a shallow dive. However, there is work being done on it in a number of countries. In particular, scientists in India have raised concerns that current models show potential for drought and famine because of reduced water flow in tropical regions like India. (This is in addition to technical and general governance concerns)
From what I understand, Geoengineering is mostly avoided because people claim (incorrectly, in my view) it is a signal that the country thinks there is no chance to fix the problem by limiting emissions. In addition, people worry that it has lots of complex impacts we don’t understand. As we understand the impacts better, it becomes more viable—and more worrisome. And as it becomes clearer over the next 20-30 years that a lot of the impacts are severe, it becomes more likely to be tried.
Are there any states that have committed to doing geoengineering, or even experimenting with geoengineering, if mitigation fails?
Having some publicly stated sufficient strategy would convince me that this was not a neglected area.
Current investment in solar geoengineering is roughly 10 million annually (this may have increased in the last few years), so by most metrics it’s really neglected. The main project working on this is the Harvard solar geoengineering research program, which OPP has funded about 2.5 million dollars for a few years in 2016. They’ve also funded a solar governance program in 2017 for about 2 million dollars. Grants here. Recently, they don’t appear to have made any climate-related grants in this space, and its unclear to me what the funding situation looks like.
Regarding states that have committed to doing things: I didn’t find anything on doing a shallow dive. However, there is work being done on it in a number of countries. In particular, scientists in India have raised concerns that current models show potential for drought and famine because of reduced water flow in tropical regions like India. (This is in addition to technical and general governance concerns)
From what I understand, Geoengineering is mostly avoided because people claim (incorrectly, in my view) it is a signal that the country thinks there is no chance to fix the problem by limiting emissions. In addition, people worry that it has lots of complex impacts we don’t understand. As we understand the impacts better, it becomes more viable—and more worrisome. And as it becomes clearer over the next 20-30 years that a lot of the impacts are severe, it becomes more likely to be tried.