Researchers from Harvard have abandoned an experiment to change climate and cool the planet by sending reflective particles into the atmosphere. Now, members of an independent advisory committee tasked with considering ethical and safety issues are sharing what they have learned from the experiment. This was reported by The Verge.
The Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment (SCoPEx) was launched in 2017. To better understand all the possible climate risks associated with solar geoengineering, researchers wanted to use reflective particles by sending some aerosols into the stratosphere using a balloon and then returning it back to study the data. However, this never happened.
The reason for the test's failure and one of the main conclusions reached by the advisory committee members was communication with people. The first test was supposed to be conducted in Sweden in 2021, but due to opposition and complaints from local indigenous leaders, it was canceled.
The analysis published by the committee also states that communication with people before starting such experiments is very important. Especially given that this experiment could have consequences that could potentially change the planet and its climate.
“One of the core messages that comes out of this is that public engagement is necessary even when you don’t think that the impact of the experiment is going to be felt in a real way, in a concrete way, in real time. This issue has such a long tail, and it has such deeper meaning for so many people,” says Sikina Jinnah, lead author of the Science policy analysis and a professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Even now, many activists continue to view solar geoengineering as a "false" solution to climate change. Releasing particles into the atmosphere is akin to trying to recreate volcanic eruptions. This solution can temporarily cool the planet, but sulfur dioxide can also have unexpected and bad consequences for the climate, for example, it can lead to acid rain and worsen the state of the ozone hole in Antarctica.
Another concern about solar geoengineering is that it could harm clean energy transition efforts. Also, starting to use solar geoengineering and then abruptly stopping the practice could lead to dangerous fluctuations in global temperatures.
After the experiment failed in 2021, it was announced in 2023 that Harvard researchers had suspended it, and in March of that year, the project was canceled completely. At the time, the reasons for the cancellation included difficulties with media scrutiny, as well as difficulties with how to respond to calls from the scientific advisory committee for broad and formal public engagement.
One of the main problems with SCoPEx, as with any other solar geoengineering experiments, is that governments still do not have a definitive policy or decision on how to deal with it. Some demand the introduction of appropriate rules and regulations, while others ban it entirely because such experiments can potentially pose too many risks to the climate.