Our work is changing the face of SRM research
Our workshops
Our workshops introduced the SRM conversation to developing countries. Over the last decade we co-organised the first major SRM workshops in:
- South America (Argentina, Brazil)
- The Caribbean (Jamaica, Guadeloupe)
- Africa (Benin, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa)
- South Asia (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan
- Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand)
All our events are organised in collaboration with respected local partners. More than 1,000 climate experts in developing countries have attended our workshops.
Degrees Modelling Fund
The Degrees Modelling Fund (DMF) is changing the face of SRM research by allowing developing country scientists to build their own expertise. Since 2018, the DMF has been supporting the first scientific projects on SRM in:
- South America
- The Caribbean
- Africa
- The Middle East
- Southeast Asia
- Small Island Developing States
- Least Developed Countries
The DMF is also the world’s largest SRM research programme, involving 150 scientists from 21 developing countries. The teams are typically looking at regional impacts of SRM, which means that over 60 developing countries will have more evidence of the effects of SRM once all studies are completed.
Volunteers
Some of the world’s leading SRM and climate experts have given their time to Degrees for free because they believe in our work and in our mission.
Community-building
Community-building and mutual learning are at the heart of our work. Since 2018, our research collaborator programme has been pairing established SRM modelling experts with the DMF teams. This innovative approach has been praised by both the teams and the collaborators.
Our first Global Forum brought together former workshop participants from around the Global South to Berlin where they also attended the 2017 Climate Engineering Conference—the world’s largest conference on the topic. This allowed them to connect with the international SRM research community, fostering North-South connections, dialogue, and mutual learning.
Media coverage
Our work has been covered in international outlets including the BBC World Service, Carbon Brief, Climate Home News, the Guardian, the Huffington Post, the Japan Times, Le Monde, Nature, Reuters, and SciDevNet.
Recognition of our work
Our work has been commended by major science academies, prestigious journals, and science writers.
The DMF’s capacity-building model praised by the US National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine
The DMF (formerly DECIMALS) was singled out for praise in Reflecting Sunlight, a major report on SRM from the US National Academy of Sciences published in March 2021. The report described the research fund as a “valuable step forward” and it specifically recommended “capacity building institutions like the DECIMALS program”.
Commendation in Nature
Our approach to capacity-building around SRM was commended in a Nature editorial published in May 2021. The editors of Nature described the work of Degrees/SRMGI as a “model for how to promote [international] collaboration”.
The DMF: the trillion dollar project (sort of)
Science journalist Rowan Hooper recommended the DMF (formerly DECIMALS) as an effective way to make SRM research more representative. In his 2021 book “How to Spend a Trillion Dollars”, Hooper considers how one might best allocate $1,000,000,000,000 to reduce suffering and encourage human flourishing. When considering options for reducing climate risk, he concluded that the DMF should receive a fraction of his (sadly imaginary) trillion dollars to expand its SRM capacity-building in the Global South.
Photo credits on this page: The Degrees Initiative, DMF researchers’ and Degrees volunteers’ personal collections, Yehuda Swed, IASS/Dirk Enters, National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, Nature, Rowan Hooper.