Americas Conference on Solar Radiation Modification: Science, Governance and Implications for the Region

The Americas Conference on Solar Radiation Modification, held in August 2022 in Kingston, Jamaica, served as a regional forum to introduce the science, governance, and implications of Solar Radiation Modification (SRM). The event brought together scientists, policymakers, and representatives from various Americas nations to discuss SRM as a potential supplement to climate mitigation, emphasizing the need for inclusive research, regional collaboration, and a risk-risk framework to evaluate the technology's potential benefits against the dangers of unchecked global warming.

• Solar Radiation Modification (SRM) is defined as a method to offset warming effects of greenhouse gas emissions by altering the Earth's shortwave radiation budget, but it is not a mitigation option because it does not address the root cause of climate change or issues like ocean acidification.
• The IPCC indicates that SRM could cause abrupt changes in the water cycle, particularly in tropical regions, and that its impacts are spatially heterogeneous, meaning it may affect different regions in disruptive ways.
• Current SRM research is limited, primarily conducted in developed countries, and lacks standardized models. There are fewer than ten formal studies on the impact of SRM on human health and agriculture, and results vary.
• The two primary SRM strategies discussed are Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI), which is more global and better understood through observational analogs, and Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB), which could be applied at a regional scale but requires more small-scale experiments to understand its physics.
• A 'risk-risk' framework is proposed to evaluate SRM, where the risks of deploying the technology are weighed against the risks of rising temperatures (overshoot scenarios) rather than assessing SRM in isolation.
• The United States government has increased funding for SRM research through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), allocating US$4 million in 2020, US$9 million in 2021, and US$9 million in 2022 to support scientific assessments and a research governance framework.
• Research in the La Plata Basin (LPB) in Argentina suggests that SAI could offset projected increases in mean and extreme temperatures and reduce drought conditions, though it may increase the risk of flooding under extremely high flow conditions.
• The Degrees Initiative has worked to build SRM evaluation capacity in developing countries through the Degrees Modelling Fund, supporting research in nations including Argentina, Jamaica, Benin, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Kenya, Iran, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

APA

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (2022). Americas Conference on Solar Radiation Modification: Science, Governance and Implications for the Region. https://iai.int/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IAI-Conference-Report_Eng.pdf

Chicago

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. Americas Conference on Solar Radiation Modification: Science, Governance and Implications for the Region. 2022. https://iai.int/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IAI-Conference-Report_Eng.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |title=Americas Conference on Solar Radiation Modification: Science, Governance and Implications for the Region |date=25 August 2022 |url=https://iai.int/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IAI-Conference-Report_Eng.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{interamericaninstituteforglobalchangeresearch2022americas, author = {{Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}}, title = {{Americas Conference on Solar Radiation Modification: Science, Governance and Implications for the Region}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, year = {2022}, month = aug, url = {https://iai.int/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IAI-Conference-Report_Eng.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }