Social Science Research to Inform Solar Geoengineering
In an article for Science’s Policy Forum, experts from a variety of fields consider how the social sciences can inform the understanding, application, and implications of solar geoengineering.
"As the prospect of average global warming exceeding 1.5°C becomes increasingly likely, interest in supplementing mitigation and adaptation with solar geoengineering (SG) responses will almost certainly rise. For example stratospheric aerosol injection to cool the planet could offset some of the warming for a given accumulation of atmospheric greenhouse gases. However, the physical and social science literature on SG remains modest compared with mitigation and adaptation. We outline three research themes for advancing policy-relevant social science related to SG: (i) SG costs, benefits, risks, and uncertainty; (ii) the political economy of SG deployment; and (iii) SG’s role in a climate strategy portfolio."
Read the full article here.
Authors
Tyler Felgenhauer
Duke University
Mariia Belaia
American University
Mark E. Borsuk
Duke University
Arunabha Ghosh
Council on Energy, Environment and Water
Garth Heutel
National Bureau of Economic Research; Georgia State University
Daniel Heyen
Technische Universität Kaiserslautern; ETH-Zurich
Joshua Horton
Harvard University
David Keith
Harvard University
Christine Merk
Kiel Institute for the World Economy
Juan Moreno-Cruz
University of Waterloo; Balsillie School of International Affairs; CESifo
Jesse L. Reynolds
Independent Consultant
Katharine Ricke
University of California San Diego
Wilfried Rickels
Kiel Institute for the World Economy
Wake Smith
Harvard University; Yale University
Simone Tilmes
National Center for Atmospheric Research
Gernot Wagner
New York University
