Reflective launches Uncertainty Database for Stratospheric Aerosol Injection Research
New database will help scientists and decision-makers prioritize research to evaluate safer, evidence-based climate intervention technique
San Francisco, CA, Jan. 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reflective, a non-profit research organization aiming to radically accelerate the pace of sunlight reflection research, today announced the launch of their Uncertainty Database for stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) research. The Database provides scientists, funders, and policymakers with an initial foundation to create a transparent, prioritized, stage-gated SAI roadmap to prioritize the most urgent research.
The Database offers a dynamic assessment of the key technical uncertainties in SAI, focusing on questions related to physical and chemical processes and engineering feasibility. This initial release is intentionally limited in scope, serving as a first step within a broader research agenda that will also address societal, governance, and geopolitical uncertainties central to SAI decision-making.
The team organized these technical uncertainties into four categories that must be understood to make informed decisions: Aerosol Evolution, Climate Response, Earth System Response, and Engineering). Each aspect of research within these categories is ranked on its degree of uncertainty, decision relevance, and on a resolvability scale.
“SAI research is currently fragmented and underpowered, with no shared view of which uncertainties actually matter for real-world decisions,” said Dakota Gruener, CEO of Reflective. “We need a shared, strategic view of what we know, what we don’t, and where research can make the biggest difference. The Uncertainty Database helps the field prioritize the uncertainties and research that matter most for informed decisions about SAI.”
With the world rapidly warming, the need to explore potential climate mitigation strategies has become an urgent priority. Reflective is committed to conducting and funding research on SAI as part of the potential solution, with a principled focus on objectivity, transparency, global collaboration, and responsible urgency.
The Uncertainty Database is the latest project from Reflective, following a year of important growth and funding. Last year, Reflective launched the updated version of their online simulator to help policymakers and the public visualize how the local effects of different SAI deployment scenarios compare to the impacts of continued warming. Reflective also funded eight research grants to study the impacts of a hypothetical high-latitude/low-altitude deployment, and a fellowship program to preserve critical atmospheric research in the U.S. The organization also launched a cloud computing hub to foster easier collaboration for SRM scientists around the world.
Reflective’s Uncertainty Database is available for the public to explore at https://uncertainties.reflective.org/.
About Reflective
Reflective is a non-profit research organization aiming to radically accelerate the pace of sunlight reflection research.
Sunlight reflection may be the only available option, alongside dramatic emissions reductions, adaptation, and rapid scaling of carbon removal, to quickly limit many climate impacts over the coming decades. But we don’t know nearly enough about it to make a scientifically-informed decision about potential deployment – and we’re not on a trajectory for rapid, legitimate decision making.
Reflective's mission is to equip the world with the data and tools needed to make informed decisions about SRM, fast enough to matter.
For more information, please visit www.reflective.org.
Doug Freeman Reflective doug@jones-dilworth.com
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