HUCE Seminar Room 440

Stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) is the idea that aerosol precursors could be released into the stratosphere, where the resulting aerosols would linger and reflect incoming solar radiation, counteracting some fraction of anthropogenic warming. We know SAI would work because of volcanoes: when a volcanic eruption deposits SO2 into the stratosphere, it oxidizes to H2SO4, which forms reflective sulfate aerosols, cooling the planet. Volcanic eruptions are used to validate or tune aerosols in climate models, but the processes in an SO2 plume injected from an aircraft differ from those in a volcanic plume in important ways. Dr. Marianna Linz, Head of Research for Reflective, will walk through these differences in processes, summarize what we know and do not know about them, show which ones matter the most for aerosol evolution, and discuss how we can make progress on understanding those critical uncertainties. She will highlight those where we will need a field experiment to understand the implications of the interactions between processes and describe a hypothetical experiment. By focusing on resolving uncertainties at the process level, she argues that we can design these modest experiments with clear scientific questions and observing strategies structured to answer those questions.

What does international law say, if anything, about climate intervention research and deployment? What might it say? What should it say? Join us for a lunch seminar titled “International Law and Climate Interventions — Is There a There There?" featuring Daniel Bodansky, Regents’ Professor of Law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.

Daniel Bodansky is the author of The Art and Craft of International Environmental Law (Harvard University Press, 2010; 2nd edition co-authored with Harro Van Asselt, OUP, 2014), which received the 2011 Sprout Award from the International Studies Association as the best book that year on international environmental politics. He also co-authored International Climate Change Law (with Lavanya Rajamani and Jutta Brunnee) (OUP 2017), which received the 2018 Certificate of Merit from the American Society of International Law as the best book that year in a specialized area of international law. Prior to joining the ASU faculty in 2010, he taught at the University of Washington Law School from 1989-1999, served as Climate Change Coordinator at the U.S. State Department from 1999-2001, and held the Woodruff Chair of International Law at the University of Georgia from 2002-2010. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, served on the Board of Editors of the American Journal of International Law from 2001-2011, and is a graduate of Harvard (A.B.), Cambridge (M.Phil.) and Yale (J.D.).

The Energy Seminar at Harvard hosts weekly seminars with leading voices in climate and energy, offering a unique opportunity to engage with the founders, investors, executives, and policymakers driving decarbonization.

Join on 10/20 for a seminar with Anil Achyuta, partner at Energy Impact Partners, for a presentation titled “Peace time and war time VC.” Anil Achyuta is a Partner at Energy Impact Partners’ Frontier Strategy, where he spearheads global investments in early-stage climate tech startups. He oversees fund strategy, portfolio development, and high-impact investments that align financial returns with climate innovation. Previously, Anil was one of the founding members and Managing Director at TDK Ventures, a global frontier tech corporate venture capital fund. While at TDK, Anil spearheaded numerous investments and exits, and served as an Observer on seven Boards.

Student groups interested in applying to the Salata Institute's Climate Collaboration Grant Program should have members attend one or both of the Climate Connection Events that will be hosted as part of the program. Student leaders will have the opportunity to present speed pitches about their organization, with the purpose of sparking connection and inspiring collaboration with others in the room. The presentations will be followed by a networking hour. Dinner will be provided.