Frank Biermann

There are problems with a geoengineering techno-fix for the climate crisis | Mike Hulme Geoengineering does little to defuse most of the risks that really matter for people – and it runs the risk of making some harms worse

Injecting particulates into the atmosphere isn’t a magical fix for the climate crisis (Mike Hulme) www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

We know enough to categorize Stratospheric Aerosol Injections (SAI) as a dangerous distraction from our need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions - Solar Geoengineering Non-Use Agreement On September 9th, 2025, we published the article Safeguarding the polar regions from dangerous geoengineering: a critical assessment of proposed concepts and future prospects in the scientific journal...

🚨 New Blog Alert🚨

“𝐖𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐀𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐨𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 (𝐒𝐀𝐈) 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬”

www.solargeoeng.org/we-know-enou...

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New Book Out! 📖

I have just published a very personal book, tracing my family’s history from 1560 to 1945—12 generations of farmers, blacksmiths, shoemakers & shepherds.

Book in German: www.wallstein-verlag.de/978383535886...

Translation of intro in English: www.frankbiermann.org/post/introdu...

🚨Our new article in GEC shows how the #UNFCCC can cause “problem-shifting”—that some solutions create new problems.

We analysed 182 communications from 25 industrialized countries & found 718 instances of problem shifts, across sectors, borders & generations.

Open access: doi.org/10.1016/j.gl...

📊 Launch of the Earth System Governance Data Directory

A living and collaborative open-access resource to help researchers and practitioners find and share existing and upcoming datasets relevant to global environmental governance.

🔗 www.earthsystemgovernance.org/news/launch-...

Solar Geoengineering: The Case for an International Non-Use Agreement

‼️ Join us this Friday at #ClimateWeekNYC for our virtual session: “Solar Geoengineering: The Case for an International Non-Use Agreement”

📆 September 26, 2025
🕘 9:00–10:30 AM EDT
📍 Online

🔗 Register here: foe-org.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Africa Is Not a Solar Geoengineering Test Site Chukwumerije Okereke & Nnimmo Bassey warn that experimenting with speculative technologies on the continent is a grave act of climate injustice.

📢 "𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮 𝗜𝘀 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗚𝗲𝗼𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝗶𝘁𝗲"

Prof. Chukwumerije Okereke & Nnimmo Bassey warn that experimenting with speculative solar geoengineering technologies on the African continent constitutes a grave act of climate injustice.

www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/a...

Some quotes 🧵👇

✉️ ESG Newsletter May
Filled with publication opportunities for #TCESG2025 along with the latest news, upcoming events, exciting opportunities and recent publications shared across the ESG network.

🔗 Read it here: mailchi.mp/earthsystemg...

ARIA’s ‘Exploring Climate Cooling’ Folly - Solar Geoengineering Non-Use Agreement On 7 May 2025, the UK Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) announced the list of projects to be funded under its £60 million solar geoengineering research initiative. Readers of this blog wil...

🚨 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱: “𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗔'𝘀 '𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴' 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆”

Professors R. Pierrehumbert, M. Hulme, P. Newell & A. Stirling critique the UK Advanced Research and Invention Agency’s unprecedented £60 million solar geoengineering research initiative.

A thread on their key concerns 👇

Inaugural lecture Aarti Gupta and Frank Biermann - Climate Change Leadership Inaugural lecture by the 2025 Zennström visiting professors Aarti Gupta and Frank Biermann at Uppsala University

It was a pleasure delivering my inaugural lecture as the 2025 Zennström Visiting Professor in Climate Change Leadership at Uppsala University last Monday, jointly with fellow Zennström Visiting Professor Aarti Gupta. climatechangeleadership.blog.uu.se/2025/04/09/i...

Solar Geoengineering Non-Use Agreement Our initiative stands against such emerging initiatives to explore planetary techno-fixes as a climate policy option.

Because of the many risks of solar geoengineering, we urgently need an International Non-Use Agreement on Solar Geoengineering, which is supported by 550+ academics and 2000 civil society organizations. More information at www.solargeoeng.org.

The UK’s gamble on solar geoengineering is like using aspirin for cancer | Raymond Pierrehumbert and Michael Mann Injecting pollutants into the atmosphere to reflect the sun would be extremely dangerous, but the UK is funding field trials

“The UK government should not encourage false solutions like solar geoengineering and the people of the UK should not stand for it.” A clear and important piece by Raymond Pierrehumbert and Michael Mann: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Forthcoming with Routledge:
"Essential Concepts for Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals--An A-Z Guide"

Dean of the Faculty of Geosciences Are you a leading researcher, experienced administrator and people connector? Do you have a heart for geosciences, with a focus on sustainability and impact?

Utrecht University is recruiting a new Dean for our Faculty of Geosciences!

The faculty covers Earth Sciences; Physical Geography; Human Geography & Spatial Planning; & the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development. Altogether 3,700 students & 900 staff.

Join us!

www.uu.nl/en/organisat...

The Earth System Governance journal is now on BlueSky!

Join us at @esg-journal.bsky.social.

All articles are open access and can be downloaded free of charge, anywhere, anytime.

[And of course, we've deleted our account on what was known as Twitter.]

IT IS A COUP This is what should be on every front page in 150 point banner headlines. All I have is this Substack but I lay it beneath your feet and pray to a higher power that I'm wrong.

This is what should be on every front page right now. What's happening in the US right now is an illegal power grab by a private citizen. IT'S A COUP.

It's a digital coup. It's Musk who's leading it. The consequences are terrifying. And it's coming for us next.
1/

open.substack.com/pub/broligar...

Weaponising solar geoengineering Solar geoengineering, if weaponised, has the potential to deepen global inequality and escalate conflicts worldwide.

Here's a new critical piece on solar geoengineering in The Ecologist (w/ some of my quotes): theecologist.org/2025/feb/04/...

Frank Biermann and Aarti Gupta new Zennström Professors of Climate Change Leadership Professor Aarti Gupta from Wageningen University and Professor Frank Biermann from Utrecht University will become Visiting Professors of Climate Change...

I've been appointed Zennström Visiting Professor in Climate Change Leadership at Uppsala University, jointly with Aarti Gupta. From March to July, I'll be working with Uppsala’s outstanding climate policy team -- if you're in or near Uppsala, I'd love to meet up!
www.mynewsdesk.com/uu/pressrele...

Huge congratulations to Dr Abbie Yunita on defending her dissertation, "Recursive Shifts: Manifestations of the SDGs in Contemporary Development Practice" just before winter break! A key contribution to understanding the #SDGs & a proud outcome of the #ERC #GLOBALGOALS Project! Well done, Abbie!

🚨 New Article Alert! 🚨

"Three Pathways to Nonuse Agreement(s) on Solar Geoengineering"

Exploring possible ways to prevent the development of solar geoengineering. How can we overcome opposition from powerful states?

Led by Stacy VanDeveer. Open Access: doi.org/10.1017/S089...

More information on solar geoengineering at www.solargeoeng.org

Geoengineering Could Alter Global Climate. Should It? Scientists and companies increasingly support blocking some sunlight to avoid the worst impacts of global warming.

Just interviewed by "Undark" magazine on the many risks and dangers of solar geoengineering. The article also highlights the alarming private investments pouring into this speculative, planet-altering tech. Open access: undark.org/2024/12/03/u... #ClimateRisk #Geoengineering

Statement from Vanuatu: Why a Non-Use Mechanism on Solar Geoengineering is urgently needed - Solar Geoengineering Non-Use Agreement Statement by Honorable Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu’s Special Envoy for Climate Change and Environment, delivered at Science Summit at the 79th United Nations General Assembly, 23 September 2024.

“Vanuatu...proposed an amendment to the Rome Statute [to] recognize ‘ecocide’ as a crime under international law...to hold accountable those who cause severe & widespread damage to the environment ... through reckless emissions or dangerous geoengineering schemes” www.solargeoeng.org/statement-fr...

“…at the recent UN Environment Assembly, Vanuatu and Fiji proudly stood with our African sisters and brothers in calling for a global governance mechanism to ensure the non-use of solar geoengineering technologies.”

Statement from Vanuatu: Why a Non-Use Mechanism on Solar Geoengineering is urgently needed - Solar Geoengineering Non-Use Agreement Statement by Honorable Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu’s Special Envoy for Climate Change and Environment, delivered at Science Summit at the 79th United Nations General Assembly, 23 September 2024.

Vanuatu stands firmly against solar geoengineering, linking it to crime of ecocide: “Vanuatu is advocating for a ban or non-use agreement on solar geoengineering. ...such an agreement is necessary to ... protect the world’s most vulnerable peoples & ecosystems.”
www.solargeoeng.org/statement-fr...

European Federation of Journalists to stop posting content on X The EFJ represents over 295,000 journalists in 44 countries.

More walk-outs from Twitter users:

www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/media/e...

Huge congratulations to Dr. Valeria Zambianchi on defending her PhD today, awarded jointly by KU Leuven & Utrecht University! 🎉 Her excellent dissertation dives deep into the complexities of "Climate Policyscapes", examining their historical evolution, policy interactions, and impacts in the UK.

Can I please draw attention to this important initiative which is now joining us here. Solar radiation manipulation (i.e. the direct injection of particles into the stratosphere) implies truly existential risks and it offers - regrettably - no solution for the currently ongoing planetary crisis.

Berggruen Institute

I look forward to speaking at the Planetary Summit Nov 23-24 in Venice, Italy. Join the conversation or follow along to learn about new pathways to address Planetary-scale challenges via @berggrueninst (still on X) and #PlanetarySummit. Learn More: berggruen.org/projects/pla...
#PlanetarySummit

Interesting piece by @oskarlindgren.bsky.social

www.newsecuritybeat.org/2024/11/time...