EDF Tight Lipped About New Geoengineering Research Program

The Environmental Defense Fund’s research effort is a significant endorsement of the contentious field of solar radiation management

One of the nation’s most influential environmental groups plans to launch a program that would assess the impacts of reflecting sunlight to slow global warming.

The Environmental Defense Fund’s solar radiation management research effort is a significant mainstream endorsement of the controversial field, also known as solar geoenegineering.

“EDF has a long track record organizing transparent scientific collaborations on challenging environmental issues. We are at the beginning of a new process,” the group said in a statement attributed to Lisa Dilling, EDF’s associate chief scientist. “Moving forward, our work here will be reflective of that tradition.”

Dilling announced the move in a story The New York Times published Monday, which noted that it was supported in part by the LAD Climate Fund. EDF declined to make her available for follow-up interviews and did not respond to questions about the size of the new program and whether other organizations are underwriting it.

The LAD Climate Fund is supporting the program because EDF “has demonstrated the courage to confront our climate challenges with clear eyes and ruthless objectivity,” Larry Birenbaum, a partner at LAD, said in a LinkedIn message. The former tech executive directed funding questions back to EDF.

In theory, solar geoengineering involves spraying reflective particles into the stratosphere or increasing the reflectivity of clouds over the oceans. Advocates — including some top climate scientists — maintain the processes could temporarily reduce global warming until humanity manages to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to safe levels.