Solar geoengineering (also called solar radiation modification) is a deeply unsettling idea — yet so are the climate impacts already unfolding and projected to intensify. We are on a trajectory that could reach around 3 °C of warming this century, with rising risks of wildfires, extreme heat and disruption of vital climate systems. Politics will ultimately determine how societies respond to either challenge.
The Centre for Future Generations (CFG) approaches the issue with deliberate openness: listening to and learning alongside civil society, policymakers and scientists, none of whom hold all the answers alone. The dedicated program team explore different possible futures with societal stakeholders and seeks to reduce misunderstandings and to ensure that decisions are grounded in both evidence and a realistic understanding of power.
CFG was founded to support risk-aware governance of rapidly emerging technologies — remaining outcome-agnostic and non-partisan. This talk will examine recent private-sector activities in the area of solar radiation modification (including “Stardust” and Make Sunsets), the basic physics of approaches such as stratospheric aerosol injection and marine cloud brightening, and the central governance questions: who is most likely to dominate decisions, how can we broaden who sits at the table, and how Europe — both Brussels institutions and EU Member States — can position itself as a constructive third pole rather than a spectator in great-power politics.
Matthias Honegger is Senior Program Director for Climate Interventions at the Centre for Future Generations in Brussels. Previously an interdisciplinary advisor on climate governance, he leads CFG’s work on the governance of climate interventions. He also directs the Co-CREATE project at Perspectives Climate Research, which advises the European Union on responsible research governance for solar radiation modification. With an academic background in Environmental Systems Science (ETH Zurich) and political science (Utrecht University) and more than a decade of experience at the science–policy interface, he focuses on pragmatic, evidence-based approaches to complex climate-technology dilemmas.
