Geoengineering: Science & Governance Seminar Series
Sponsored by: MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change and Harvard University Center for the Environment

Solar geoengineering may enable a significant reduction in climate risks by partially offsetting climate change due to increasing greenhouse gases. However, this emerging technology entails novel risks and uncertainties along with serious challenges to global governance. Most scientific work on the topic has been published in the last half decade. The talk will include a rough summary of recent findings regarding (a) the climate's response to radiative forcing by stratospheric aerosols, (b) methods of producing appropriate aerosol distributions, and (c) risks. In closing the trade-offs between solar geoengineering, emissions reductions and adaptation in climate policy will be discussed. 

Speaker: David Keith, Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics; Professor of Public Policy, Harvard University