Is Climate Havoc Inevitable?

At the LAD Climate Fund, we support research, governance, and advocacy for sunlight reflection methods (also known as solar radiation modification, or SRM)—interventions that could alleviate suffering from rising temperatures and potentially catastrophic tipping points—as part of a four-pillar climate strategy that also includes emissions mitigation, adaptation, and carbon dioxide removal (CDR).

We focus our funding on a technique known as Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI). SAI would mimic the climate effects of major volcanic eruptions by blocking a small percentage of incoming sunlight, thereby lowering global temperatures

The Moral Imperative

Due to already excessive CO2 concentrations, climate damage is widespread and, with no credible abatement in sight, certain to get much worse. SRM has the potential to rapidly bring temperatures to a safer level and avert some of the worst of climate change-induced damage. As such, SRM has the potential to alleviate suffering for billions of people.

We have an obligation to future generations to determine whether a future with SAI would be significantly better than one without it.

Four Pillar Climate Strategy

While we focus our funding on sunlight reflection methods (SRM), we recognize that SRM is only one part of a comprehensive approach to combating climate change. We advocate for a four-pillar climate strategy: mitigation, adaptation, carbon dioxide removal (CDR), and SRM. Each plays an essential role in addressing the climate crisis.

Mitigation

The global economy must decarbonize as quickly as possible, countering massive industry momentum going the other way. Electricity, agriculture, transportation, buildings, and industry must evolve rapidly to become carbon neutral. The longer this takes, the greater CO2 concentrations will be, as will their climate-related damages. Our climate is fated to worsen each day until we reach net zero when CO2 removals match CO2 emissions. Original estimates put this at mid-century but is now likely to be much later.

Adaptation

Protective measures will be essential to mitigate climate-induced impacts. Low-lying communities and coastal cities must upgrade critical infrastructure or face the difficult decision to relocate due to rising seas. Agriculture will need to adapt swiftly to changing weather patterns, while humanity must brace for higher temperatures, prolonged heatwaves, and growing food and water insecurity. This crucial and costly undertaking needs to be sustained through the long transition toward a more habitable climate. Poorer nations in the Global South will need the help of the richer countries in the Global North.

Carbon Dioxide Removal

Only CDR can return carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere to a safer level. The task, however, is nothing short of monumental. Implementing CDR at scale will require extensive breakthroughs, vast financial resources, and massive amounts of energy. The sheer scale of CO2 that must be removed from the atmosphere to achieve safe levels is staggering, and estimates suggest it will take more than a century. Despite this, CDR is our only hope for climate restoration.

Sunlight Reflection Methods

SRM represents a suite of interventions that would attempt to cool the planet by reflecting a small amount of sunlight back into space, thereby reducing heat-related damages, including possibly forestalling some climate tipping points. Several methods have been studied, but stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) is the most substantiated and practical approach to lowering temperatures globally. SAI can staunch climate harms until CDR can restore the atmosphere to safer CO2 levels. While SAI has tremendous potential, it has uncertainties and risks. Because of these risk/benefit tradeoffs, further research is imperative.