New Episode of Resources Radio: "Reflecting on Solar Geoengineering, with David Keith"

WASHINGTON, DC—Resources for the Future (RFF) today released a new installment of Resources Radio: “Reflecting on Solar Geoengineering, with David Keith.”

In this episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with David Keith, a physics and public policy professor at Harvard University and one of the world’s leading experts on solar geoengineering. Keith outlines prominent examples of solar geoengineering technologies in development—from ambitious ideas, such as sending aerosols to the stratosphere, to more operational solutions, like painting roofs white to reflect more sunlight into space. An advocate for expanding solar geoengineering, Keith discusses how coalitions among like-minded nations and clearer guidance from policymakers could expand deployment of promising technologies.

Listen here.

Notable quotes from the podcast:

• Big shifts in climate are not the goal of solar geoengineering: “My view is, at least in this period where emissions are still positive and concentrations of CO₂ are going up, the more sensible way to think about these technologies is to limit the rate of warming, or to halt warming and other large-scale climate changes, but not to attempt to drive the climate back toward pre-industrial [levels].” (8:06)
• Why sweeping unilateral action in major geoengineering projects remains unlikely: “If you were a country … highly motivated to implement these technologies for self-protection, because of these sharp governance challenges and because of the interconnectedness of global affairs, I think you'd be unlikely to actually want to be purely unilateral, because you could expect blowback. Instead, you'd likely work out coalitions of like-minded countries that also wanted to act. Indeed, if you wanted this to be stable, which it would be in your self-interest to do … you'd want to think about a coalition that could have some legitimacy. On the other hand, I think the idea of a pure consensus—in which all countries agree—is very unlikely.” (20:13)
• Policy cannot keep ignoring solar geoengineering: “A reasonable position is to say there should be a global moratorium on [solar geoengineering] ever happening. It's not a position I agree with, but there’s reason for [that] point of view ... I think what is becoming increasingly untenable is the idea that we think about climate policy over the next decades in a way that just pretends solar geoengineering doesn't exist. I think that is an increasingly implausible position. We need to bring it into the core of the debate about what we do about climate risk.” (27:48)