The Committee developed and agreed to the following mission and values through a consensus process.
Mission Statement
The purpose of the Advisory Committee is to provide advice on the research and governance of SCoPEx, operating independently from the Research Team. The Committee’s goal is to ensure that the SCoPEx project is undertaken in a transparent, responsible, and legitimate manner by ensuring that it contributes to scientific understanding and establishes means for meaningful public engagement in the experiment.
Values
The Advisory Committee embraces the following values to support the mission and guide the decision making process and the conduct of this research:
Integrity and Impartiality
In order to have impact, the work of the Committee must be respected and credible. Each member on the Committee was chosen for their experience as well as their reputation for integrity in international environmental research and governance. The Committee membership is intended to represent a wide range of perspectives, experiences, and expertise that are relevant to governing the experiment. Any circumstance that may present bias in the Committee process must be clearly identified and satisfactorily resolved to avoid inappropriate influence in the review process.
Expert and Evidence-Based Assessment
The Committee will invite and consider diverse scientific, cultural, philosophical, and ethical input while conducting their work in evaluating the governance and scientific review of SCoPEx. It will make decisions and recommendations based on this input, using its own expertise, while maintaining fidelity to the evidence and striving to be impartial.
Transparency
The Committee membership, terms of reference, operating guidelines, important updates, and relevant materials will be posted and shared on the Advisory Committee’s website in a timely manner.
Advancement of Science
The Committee will consider and evaluate the potential efficacy of solar geoengineering research based on the current state of knowledge. The Committee is committed to advancing knowledge through its work and will assess and, to the extent feasible, identify strategies and options to mitigate any risks associated with SCoPEx.
Engagement, Collaboration, and Social Responsibility
Given the broad societal implications of solar geoengineering research and its potential contribution to the eventual deployment of solar geoengineering at scale, the public should be involved in decisions involving such research. Accordingly, the Committee is committed to embedding principles of engagement, collaboration, and social responsibility into its own work as well in our recommendations to the Research Team and Harvard University.
The Committee will seek engagement from a diverse range of stakeholders, inviting and welcoming diverse perspectives into the conversation. We will make concerted efforts to consult, especially with those who have experienced historical barriers to participation, including indigenous and local leaders, environmental justice communities, scientific experts, informal and formal community leaders, legal experts, moral and ethical teachers, and environmental leaders, prior to any release of materials in the atmosphere taking place. We recognize that some people or communities may have larger barriers to overcome in an engagement process and we are committed to finding ways around those barriers.
The Committee operates to increase all interested communities’ understanding of solar geoengineering, to understand the perspectives of different communities and stakeholders, to gain and attend to input from all interested persons.
The Committee will also work with a view to ensuring that the Research Team establishes a similar goal and process for engagement and collaboration.