2025 RFF and Harvard SRM Social Science Research Workshop: Governance in a Fractured World

RFF's Solar Geoengineering Research Project and the Harvard Solar Geoengineering Research Program seek to improve our understanding of the risks, potential benefits, and other uncertain implications of solar radiation modification (SRM) as one approach among others to help address climate change risks.

On September 4–5, we are hosting this year's RFF and Harvard SRM Social Science Research Workshop, with a broad theme of "Governance in a Fractured World." This invitation-only event will take place at the RFF offices in Washington, DC.

This will be a research-oriented workshop on key social science questions related to SRM, designed to promote discussions and feedback on research.

If you have any questions about the workshop, please contact Tyler Felgenhauer ([email protected]) or Kristin Hayes ([email protected]). Stay tuned for the agenda and more information.

Thursday, September 4

9:30 – 10:00 am: Breakfast and Registration

10:00 – 10:15 am: Welcome and Introduction

• Billy Pizer, Resources for the Future
• Joe Aldy, John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University

10:15 am – 11:45 am: What is the potential for strategic cooperation? | Moderated by Tony Harding

• Size and characteristics of effective geoengineering coalitions (Pietro Andreoni)
• Can climate clubs speed up the development of next-generation climate risk-reduction technologies? (Kevin R. Wagner)
• Solar radiation modification amidst the changing dynamics of South Asian transboundary waters: can it overcome the region’s geopolitics? (Imran Saqib Khalid)

11:45 am – 12:30 pm: Policymaker Perspective on Solar Geoengineering: A Conversation with Andrew Light | Moderated by Joe Aldy

12:30 – 1:15 pm: Lunch

1:15 – 3:15 pm: SRM futures and geopolitical realities | Moderated by Josh Horton

• Using strategic foresight to bridge the SRM science-diplomacy divide: The low-down on a high stakes future (Cynthia Scharf and Trish Lavery)
• Why a global moratorium on solar geoengineering deployment should get a chilly reception (Daniel Bodansky and Sue Biniaz)
• Who may geoengineer: delegation of SRM research and deployment in times of geopolitical rivalry and global inequality (Patrick Taylor Smith)
• The Trojan horse of solar radiation modification (William Morrissey)

3:15 – 3:45 pm: Coffee Break

3:45 – 5:15 pm: Public perception in the Global South | Moderated by Shuchi Talati

• Framing solar radiation modification: media, expertise, and public perceptions of SRM in Latin America and the Caribbean (Maria Ines Carabajal)
• Perceptions, governance, and health interlinkages of SRM and climate change in Pakistan—and toward mapping fractured South Asia (Hassaan Sipra)
• Stakeholder perceptions about SRM in the Global South: reporting initial findings from Brazil and South Africa (Rhythm Singh)

5:15 – 5:30 pm: Day 1 Wrap Up

Friday, September 5

8:30 – 9:00 am: Breakfast and registration

9:00 – 10:30 am: SRM in the Arctic – social science questions | Moderated by Tyler Felgenhauer

• Governing SRM in a rapidly changing Arctic: building and advancing a collaborative research agenda (Jennifer Spence)
• Governance of polar solar geoengineering (Wake Smith)
• Perspectives of decision-makers and influencers on research into climate intervention and ecosystem repair in the Arctic (Bridget Shayka)

10:30 – 11:00 am: Coffee Break

11:00 am – 1:00 pm: Public perception and actors in the Global North | Moderated by Massimo Tavoni

• Public concerns about solar geoengineering research in the United States (Holly Buck and Prerna Shah)
• Understanding public and expert perspectives on solar radiation modification (David McEvoy)
• Expert, stakeholder, and rightsholder perspectives into responsible SRM research governance – results from interviews (Ilona Mettiäinen)
• Startups and solar geoengineering (Britta Clark)

1:00 – 2:15 pm: Concluding Lunch and Funders' Panel