Regrettable Necessity or Fungible Climate Action (ReFLECT)? Bringing Transparency to Interactions Between Science and Society on Solar Geoengineering

The aim of this interdisciplinary project is to study the knowledge cultures, political imaginaries, and institutional settings within which environmental- and climate risks linked to methods of solar geoengineering are understood through practices of computer simulation.

Within the project, climate models, as well as the practices with which they are designed and developed, are treated as empirical cases for examining dominant representations of the future as well as how such representations provide a prospective configuration of contemporary actors' orientation for action and, by extension, affect the restructuring of energy systems.

Since the goal of solar geoengineering research must be to understand not only the technical aspects but also the visions, symbols, and associated notions of desirability surrounding its potential deployment, the project seeks to contribute to a more inclusive dialogue between the public, policymakers, as well as modelers.