Frontiers in Climate Systems Engineering

On May 18-19, 2026, researchers and policymakers gathered at the University of Chicago’s David Rubenstein Forum for the inaugural Frontiers in Climate Systems Engineering conference, organized by the University’s Climate Systems Engineering initiative (CSEi).

The two-day conference focused on CSEi’s three key research areas: open-systems carbon removal (CDR), sunlight reflection methods (SRM), and glacial interventions. Along with overviews of each research area, the conference featured panel discussions on policy perspectives and governance, the role of private vs. nonprofits in SRM, and technical deep dives into ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) and stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) aircraft deployment platforms.

View all the recordings from the event on the CSEi YouTube channel.

Opening Remarks, CSEi Executive Director Macol Cerda and University President Paul Alivisatos

CSEi Overview, David Keith, Founding Faculty Director, CSEi, University of Chicago

Policy Perspectives Panel

Discussion about the policy and politics of climate engineering. 

• Manish Bapna, President and CEO, Natural Resources Defense Council  
• Hina Khar, Former Foreign Minister of Pakistan 
• Pascal Lamy, Chair of the Climate Overshoot Commission, Former WTO Director-General, Co-founder and Vice-President of the Jacques Delors Friends of Europe Foundation, and Vice-President of the Paris Peace Forum
• Justus Lehtisaari, Head of International Cooperation, Operaatio Arktis 
• Moderator: Michael Greenstone, Founding Director, Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth, University of Chicago

Viewpoints Discussion: Private and Nonprofit Approaches to SRM Research

How private companies and nonprofit organizations approach the technology and policy of sunlight reflection.

• Dakota Gruener, CEO and Co-Founder, Reflective
• Yanai Yedvab, CEO and Co-Founder, Stardust
• Moderator: David Wallace-Wells, Science Writer and Essayist, The New York Times

Viewpoints Discussion: Political Fault Lines in Climate Systems Engineering

How values, evidence, and shifting political alliances shape the future of sunlight reflection.

• Sarah Hunt, CEO and President, Joseph Rainey Center for Public Policy
• Ricken Patel, Principal, Climate Hub, and Founding CEO, Avaaz
• Moderator: David Wallace-Wells, Science Writer and Essayist, The New York Times

State of the Field: Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR)

• B. B. Cael, Assistant Professor, Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago
• Hannah Bebbington, Head of Deployment, Frontier

State of the Field: Sunlight Reflection Methods

• Mingyi Wang, Assistant Professor, Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago
• Ken Caldeira, Senior Scientist, Gates Ventures

State of the Field: Glacial Interventions

• Doug MacAyeal, Professor, Emeritus, Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago
• Marianne Hagen, Former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway and Co-Lead of the Seabed Curtain Project

Day One Closing Remarks from David Keith

Carbon Removal Efficacy of Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement: Scientific Constraints on What Works in the Real World

This expert-led discussion examines the factors that determine how much carbon removal can be achieved by different methods of ocean alkalinity enhancement.

• Alicia Karspeck, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, [C]Worthy
• Anna Michel, Associate Scientist, Department of Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• Noah Planavsky, Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University
• Moderator: B. B. Cael

Sunlight Reflection Deployment Technologies

This expert-led discussion examines the aircraft platforms relevant to sunlight reflection, highlighting current capabilities and remaining technological constraints.

• John Langford, Chairman and CEO, Electra.aero
• Doug MacMartin, Associate Professor, Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University
• Wake Smith, Lecturer, Yale School of the Environment
• Moderator: David Keith

Recap

Day one began with opening remarks from CSEi Executive Director Macol Cerda and University President Paul Alivisatos.

“Even if the world were to flip a magic switch and stop burning fossil fuels tomorrow, the carbon already in the atmosphere will remain with us for centuries,” said CSEi Executive Director Macol Cerda. “So hand-in-hand with aggressive decarbonization, we believe the most responsible paths also include rigorous evaluation of climate engineering.”

University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos followed Cerda’s remarks by noting that no university has yet “placed a bet” in the climate systems engineering space. “What happens in a world where human activity and what happens naturally are intrinsically intertwined at a vast scale?” he asked.

CSEi Overview and State-of-the-Field

CSEi Founding Faculty Director David Keith laid out the mission of the conference, setting the stage for the discussions that followed.

“I care that we’re building an open and inclusive community of researchers and practitioners who, by their research and collaboration in various civil society and in governmental processes, can help provide tools that allow communities, governments, and ultimately humanity as a whole to make more considered, less bad choices about managing the climate of our home planet. Ultimately, that’s the purpose of this gathering,” Keith said.

Following Keith’s overview, UChicago researchers and external practitioners provided an overview on the current state of science and technology related to CSEi’s three research areas. The speakers covered how each climate intervention might work as well as feasibility.

Policy Perspectives

Moderated by Michael Greenstone, Founding Director of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth, the policy perspectives panel discussion revolved around the governance and public trust challenges associated with climate engineering, particular SRM.

Pascal Lamy, Chair of the Climate Overshoot Commission and Former WTO Director-General, voiced support for a governance coalition consisting of “a group of seven middle sized countries,” four from the global south (which is disproportionately affected by climate change) and three from the north. “If we try to put in the hands of usual diplomats…we are in for 25 years of negotiations and we don’t have 25 years ahead of us,” he warned.

Former Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Khar agreed on the urgency and elaborated on the issue of public trust. “Those who fear it most perhaps tend to benefit the most from it,” she said of SRM. “The trust has to be earned through historical facts and through behavior.”

The panel agreed that transparent, widely shared research must come first. “Science which is credible is important,” Khar said. “It will be used as a guiding force.”

Viewpoints

Day one featured two “viewpoint” discussions moderated by David Wallace-Wells, science writer and essayist for The New York Times. The first discussion on private vs. nonprofit approaches centered around objectivity and the idea of a profit motive around SRM.

Dakota Gruener, Co-founder and CEO of Reflective, a nonprofit focused on sunlight reflection research, argued that objectivity is a key benefit of the nonprofit approach.

“We’re completely agnostic to whether or not SAI ultimately proves to be a good idea. We want to get to the point of informed decisions, and if that decision is ultimately this shouldn’t move forward, we count that as a win,” said Gruener.

Yanai Yedvab, Co-founder and CEO of Stardust, a for-profit startup, argued for the place of private enterprise.

“As the climate crisis escalates, the next natural step is to move to do actual work of building options,” Yedvab said. “We believe you need companies to develop safe actionable options for SRM and at the same time, you need nonprofits and you need academia and you need government.”

Both Gruener and Yedvab endorsed a stage-gated research model with clear governance checkpoints.

The second discussion moderated by Wallace-Wells concentrated on how liberals and conservatives in the U.S. might view climate systems engineering.

Sarah Hunt, CEO and President of the Joseph Rainey Center for Public Policy, warned against treating the conservative position on atmospheric research and climate engineering as a monolith.

“The political opposition is real, but narrow. And it is louder than it is large,” Hunt said. “The conservative answer to the field is not prohibition. It is sovereignty…American skies, American rules, American science.”

Ricken Patel, Principal of Climate Hub and founding CEO of Avaaz, agreed, noting that bipartisan support for research could be found “if you adopt frames that aren’t left or right coded, if you talk about climate instability, for example, rather than climate change.”

Day Two: A Closer Look at Efficacy and Feasibility

Technical, expert-led discussions on day two examined the efficacy of carbon removal and feasibility of aircraft deployment technologies for SRM.

Yale Professor Noah Planavsky addressed the real-world feasibility concern of ocean alkalinity enhancement: “Without question, we can remove gigatons of carbon through ocean alkalinity enhancement. That is not up for scientific debate. The real question is how cost effective is this going to be.”

On aircraft platforms for potential SAI deployment, John Langford, Chairman and CEO Electra.aero estimated functional prototype dispersal aircraft could be ready “about 36 months” from a “funded start,” highlighting the strong relative practicality of SAI as a climate systems engineering method.

Marianne Hagen

Dakota Gruener

David Keith delivering opening remarks at Friedman Hall

Macol Cerda

Pascal Lamy and Hina Khar

President Paul Alivisatos delivering opening remarks at Friedman Hall

Climate systems engineering — consisting of open-systems carbon removal, sunlight reflection, and interventions to slow glacial melting — is increasingly part of the global debate about how societies could reduce the risks of climate change, alongside efforts to rapidly reduce carbon emissions. While these approaches vary in maturity, uncertainty, and policy implications, together they represent an urgent, growing frontier in climate science and policy.

This gathering brought together leading researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders to discuss and explore cutting-edge approaches for addressing climate change. Attendees engaged with expert perspectives on the potential benefits and risks associated with these emerging technologies.

Speakers