Climate Conversations: Solar Geoengineering

Join the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) for a conversation on the possible risks and benefits of solar geoengineering as part of a portfolio of responses to climate change.

Solar geoengineering refers to a set of possible strategies to help reduce global warming by increasing the amount of solar radiation reflected away from Earth. Frank Sesno (George Washington University) will moderate a conversation with Marcia McNutt (National Academy of Sciences) and Chris Field (Stanford University) about how and whether solar geoengineering could fit into broader efforts to address climate change, the role of research in helping inform decisions about implementation, and the complex global ethics and governance issues associated with solar geoengineering. The webinar will include discussion of the new National Academies report, Reflecting Sunlight: Recommendations for Solar Geoengineering Research and Research Governance, which was chaired by Dr. Field.

The conversation will be webcast on the Climate Conversations webpage on Thursday 20 May 2021 from 3-4 pm ET. Closed captioning will be provided.

Climate Conversations: Pathways to Action is a new monthly webinar series from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that aims to convene high-level, cross-cutting, nonpartisan conversations about issues relevant to national policy action on climate change.

Participant Bios

Marcia McNutt is a geophysicist and the President of the National Academy of Sciences. From 2013 to 2016, she was editor-in-chief of the Science family of journals, and from 2009 to 2013, she was director of the U.S. Geological Survey. She also chaired the 2015 National Academies report, Climate Intervention: Reflecting Sunlight to Cool Earth.

Chris Field is the Perry L. McCarty Director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and Melvin and Joan Lane Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies. His research focuses on climate change, especially solutions that improve lives now, decrease the amount of future warming, and support vibrant economies. He chaired the 2021 National Academies report, Reflecting Sunlight: Recommendations for Solar Geoengineering Research and Research Governance.

Frank Sesno is an Emmy Award-winning journalist with more than thirty years of experience reporting from around the world. He currently serves as Director of Strategic Initiatives at The George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs, where he created PlanetForward.org, a multi-platform project that brings students and experts together to examine sustainable innovations that “move the planet forward.”