top of page

We’re running out of time

It’s getting hotter, faster and the worst is yet to come. In 2024, temperatures exceeded +1.5°C over the pre-industrial baseline, and the prospect for coming years is dire. As the perils intensify and the damages of global warming escalate, we need to seriously explore solutions to stabilize temperatures that can be deployed in years, not decades, buying time to reduce emissions and scale up carbon removal.

 

So in 2023, we founded Stardust, a research company dedicated to investigating the responsible use of Stratospheric Aerosol Injection technology, commonly referred to as sunlight reflection. Today, we are an interdisciplinary team of 25 scientists, engineers, and academics working in collaboration with the larger scientific community to give governments a real, actionable option to mitigate near-term catastrophic warming.

Decarbonization alone is no longer enough

We believe society must decarbonize as quickly as possible. We also believe there should be a safe and credible plan to buy more time. People and ecosystems on the front lines may need a path to actively cool the planet if for political, technological, or cultural reasons it takes too long to zero out human emissions. If we don’t research potential approaches now, there won’t be any options available when we need them.

 

Humanity needs breathing room. Making the massive economic, technological, political, and cultural changes necessary to shift the world away from planet-warming carbon will happen, but they take time. No one knows how much time. Nor will it be a straight line of uninterrupted progress. One thing we do know, however, is that the pace of climate-related disaster and displacement is accelerating. In our push to reach that decarbonized future, the last thing we need is one hand tied behind our backs.

How we approach our research

The Earth’s atmosphere is full of small particles (aerosols) that reflect the sun's rays to some degree, with clouds being a prominent example. Reflecting sunlight by adding material in the stratosphere is conceptually similar to when volcanic eruptions increase levels of aerosols in the stratosphere and provide a significant, globally distributed cooling effect. But unlike these natural phenomena, human-directed sunlight reflection can be targeted and managed.

 

To be worthy of consideration, any proposed sunlight reflection approach must be safe for humans and the biosphere, effective at cooling, rigorously tested and validated, operationally and economically feasible, and regulated by governments.

 

These have always been, and will always be, the north star that guide our work with this technology. We hold ourselves to the highest standards of safety, professionalism, and scientific integrity and have put mechanisms in place so that others may hold us to these standards as well.

Our progress so far

As the conversation around sunlight reflection gains momentum, we are focused on conducting the scientific research and developing the building blocks that will ensure its safe, effective, and controlled deployment — should governments choose to deploy it. To that end, our team has developed a bio-safe particle for sunlight reflection, designed a prototype dispersion system, and created monitoring tools and modeling capabilities essential for controlling such a system.

​

In our view, tight control of the process is critical, and we are developing the technology that will enable a high degree of real-time monitoring and control.

Our goal is that the products of our scientific and engineering efforts will help governments weigh the benefits and risks and figure out if, when, and how to use approaches like sunlight reflection in their efforts to protect their people and ecosystems.

The path forward

The next decade will be critical for developing a comprehensive understanding of climate response options. While emissions reduction and ecosystem restoration must lead our response to climate change, we believe humanity also needs a thorough scientific understanding of additional measures that could help prevent worst-case scenarios.

​

The choice to develop this technology is a choice to make our best effort to give humanity a fighting chance. It’s a choice to avoid the suffering of millions in the near future. We believe it is worth a serious try.

Yanai.png

Yanai Yedvab, Ph.D.

CEO, Stardust

bottom of page