SilverLining Unveils Interactive Roadmap for Research and to Advance Understanding of Near-Term Climate Risk and Intervention
The 5-year digital roadmap includes ambitious improvements to climate observations and models and study of a portfolio of rapid interventions
WASHINGTON, DC, December 11, 2024 - Today, SilverLining released an interactive roadmap for the essential research and innovation required to improve understanding of near-term climate risks and proposed approaches to reflecting sunlight to cool the climate. Near-term Climate Risk and Intervention: A Roadmap for Research and Innovation charts a path forward to improve society’s information and options for near-term climate responses within 5 years.
Society is experiencing the warmest decade on record, driving heatwaves, wildfires and other extreme events around the world. To promote the safety of global populations and the stability of ecosystems, scientists have recommended research on the potential for reflecting or releasing the sun’s energy from clouds and particles in the atmosphere, i.e. solar radiation modification (SRM), to cool the climate, in tandem with critical emission reduction efforts. However, there are major gaps in the information and capabilities required for society to evaluate the potential for SRM to reduce the impacts and risks of near-term climate change.
SilverLining’s interactive roadmap describes objectives and activities designed to fill these critical gaps to support scientific assessment within five years. These include improving climate modeling and analytical tools, strengthening observations of aerosols and other climate influences in the atmosphere, assessing the projected impacts and risks of climate interventions like SRM, and identifying and growing mechanisms for effective governance and decision-making.
“The impact of a warming planet warrants a concerted, global effort to improve the information and options society needs to respond in time enough to matter,” said Kelly Wanser, SilverLining’s Executive Director. “This roadmap is designed to move us towards a set of ambitious but achievable goals to address the immediate impacts of climate change while we continue pressing work to reduce emissions.”
The roadmap includes description of “critical path” activities that must occur sequentially, such as developing technology for generating a required size and scale of aerosols in order to accurately model their effects, and drive the timeline for delivering required information.
SilverLining’s catalyst research programs are designed to advance research against the roadmap. This includes its newly announced STratospheric Aerosol Research (STAR) Program to improve understanding of the effects of stratospheric aerosols on the atmosphere and climate. Research efforts under the STAR Program were featured in the 2024 American Geophysical Union TV film series, “How SilverLining is Studying Rapid Responses to Climate Change”, and a special program by BBC Panorama, “Can Scientists Save the World?”.
“In order to improve our climate modelling capabilities, we must collect more holistic data on the atmosphere and how aerosols interact within it,” said SilverLining’s Chief Climate Scientist Jean-François Lamarque. “Without adequate information on the state of the climate today, we will not be able to accurately forecast the impacts of climate change five, ten or fifty years into the future. This roadmap will make that standard of forecasting possible.”
This roadmap furthers SilverLining’s mission to promote safety for the world’s people and natural systems in the context of near-term (i.e. 30-50 year) climate risks. It represents the evolution of work encapsulated in the 2023 landmark report, Near Term Climate Risk and Intervention, and a 2022 peer-reviewed paper, Near-term climate risks and sunlight reflection modification: a roadmap approach for physical sciences research.
About SilverLining
SilverLining is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that society has sufficient information and options to respond to near-term climate risks. SilverLining supports research, policy and public engagement to drive rapid progress to ensure a safe climate. SilverLining's partners include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), University of Washington, University of Central Florida, SRI, and other organizations. SilverLining is funded by philanthropic organizations and individuals focused on climate change, including Quadrature Climate Foundation, 2040 Foundation, and others. For more information visit www.silverlining.ngo.