One Atmosphere: An Independent Expert Review on Solar Radiation Modification Research and Deployment

We have ‘One Atmosphere’. Everyone is a stakeholder. Since the beginning of the industrial era, carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) have been accumulating in the atmosphere due to fossil fuel burning and changes in land use such as deforestation. As a result, anthropogenic climate change is now affecting every region across the globe. The consequences of continued GHG emissions will be severe and long-lasting, including exceedance of temperature targets; increases in the frequency, intensity and persistence of extreme weather and climate events; reductions in sea and land ice, snow cover and permafrost; and sea level rise. Through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and other processes, the international community has been working to reduce GHG emissions. However, action and current commitments are not yet sufficient to meet the Paris Agreement’s temperature goals. This situation has led to increased interest in understanding whether an operational large-scale Solar Radiation Modification (SRM, or sometimes called ‘solar geoengineering’) deployment might be able to help protect humans and the ecosystems upon which humanity depends.