The US National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) today published a major policy report on SRM: Reflecting Sunlight. The 311-page publication is the most comprehensive report on SRM to-date. It is exploring the scientific and socio-political dimensions of SRM and making dozens of recommendations on topics such as research and governance. We were honoured that the report praised the ground-breaking work of our initiative and called for expansion of the research that we started with the Degrees Modelling Fund (formerly DECIMALS).
In Box 2.1:
One valuable step forward . . . is the DECIMALS (Developing Country Impacts Modelling Analysis for Solar Radiation Management) fund, launched in 2018 as an international SG research fund aimed at researchers from the Global South. The fund (administered by The World Academy of Sciences and funded by the Open Philanthropy Project, a U.S.-based donor advised fund) has thus far distributed grants to research teams based in Argentina, Bangladesh, Benin, Indonesia, Iran, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, and South Africa, who are modeling how SG could affect their respective regions—in conjunction with additional, related efforts.
Recommendation 5.1:
A coalition of state and non-state actors should self-organize to promote international information sharing and cooperation on SG research and research governance through activities including . . . Providing grants for pilot projects or partnerships with countries that are underrepresented in the global research environment (e.g., capacity building institutions like the DECIMALS program).