SilverLining’s report, Near Term Climate Risk and Intervention: A Roadmap for Research, U.S. Research Investment and International Scientific Cooperation describes a roadmap for the essential research and research investments required to better address the catastrophic risks of near-term climate change.

Current risks and escalating threats of climate change highlight the urgency of research to enhance safety for human and natural systems, especially for those most vulnerable. As the report highlights, the magnitude of these threats warrants a concerted effort to improve projections of near-term climate risks and impacts and to assess the potential for rapid climate interventions to reduce them.

Advancing Critical Science

A coordinated U.S. scientific research effort structured around a 5-year roadmap could fill information gaps on near-term climate risks and deliver a robust scientific assessment of the potential for solar and other promising climate interventions to reduce those risks.

Such a research effort should include improved modeling and analyses of climate and impacts, improved observations of the atmosphere and other natural systems, research on specific sunlight reflection approaches, socio-economic studies, and international scientific programs. A $2.6B annual increase in funding for U.S. federal climate science over the next 5 years—$13B in total—can provide the capabilities and resources needed to assess approaches to improving near-term climate safety.

Climate change is causing devastating impacts on communities and ecosystems around the world. With warming projected to rise through the mid-century, conditions will grow increasingly unsafe.