In the news

Centre for Climate Repair in the news: since May 2025

These are science's boldest ideas to cool our heating planet: our research featured in BBC Science Focus

6th September 2025

Brighter clouds, thicker ice, atmospheric injection, space shades...

We're featured alongside other scientists in BBC Science Focus magazine's look into ideas that could help cool the planet.

Have a read, share with colleagues, and let us know what you think of this research.

Engineering the Planet: Shaun Fitzgerald and Jacob Pantling on BBC Radio 4's Rare Earth podcast

5th September 2025

Can we design and build our way out of climate change? That’s the question BBC Rare Earth asked our researchers in an episode on “Engineering the Planet”.

Jacob Pantling, a PhD student at the Centre for Climate Repair, invited to the hosts to see some of his latest experiments. Recording in the “Cold Room” at DAMTP, he explained the work being done at the University of Cambridge to support research in the Arctic.

“My current experiment is looking at what happens when we pour water on top of ice, and we’re doing this in the context of thickening.”

He explains that ice thickening could benefit locals whose livelihoods depend on the ice, as well as providing a way to protect the planet alongside decarbonisation. “It’s not ideal, but perhaps it can help.”

Back in the studio, Shaun Fitzgerald, director of the Centre for Climate Repair, joined the panel to discuss where these technologies fit in our climate response.

? “I know it sounds obvious,” he says, “and we have talked about it so many times. But the point is, if you don’t reduce emissions, everything else is futile.” Research into new technologies is about "nearer term action".

They discuss scalability, moral hazards, and - perhaps - moral duties of climate intervention research.

Listen to the rest of the episode on the BBC website and let us know what you think.

The manmade clouds that could help save the Great Barrier Reef: MCB in The New York Times.

25th July 2025

Since 2016, Daniel Harrison and team at Southern Cross University have been testing Marine Cloud Brightening methods as a way to reduce coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef.

This weekend, a feature in The New York Times detailed the research, its motivations, and where it fits in the world of geoengineering.

"Harrison’s work aspires to a different model: one in which the rigorous and collaborative development of such technologies and their highly selective application help preserve a version of Earth that, while it may not be identical to the past, is at least still recognizable."

Some of our team at the University of Cambridge have been working with them on nozzle development, and researcher Dante McGrath spent some time on their boat early last year. You can read a little more about the theory behind it on our website.

From on board the research vessel, the author debates questions of necessity versus safety. "But then I remembered something," he writes: "When it comes to climate change, there is no more “safe.” There is only less treacherous."

Reduce, remove, reflect: the three Rs that could limit global warming: Dante McGrath writes for The Conversation.

8th July 2025

Dante McGrath, researcher at the Centre for Climate Repair, has written for The Conversation UK on three climate actions that could limit global warming.

"Much like the 'reduce-reuse-recycle' sustainability initiative," he writes, "various climate actions fit within three Rs — reduce, remove and reflect.

"My colleagues and I have reviewed how these three Rs differ in scope, scale and state of knowledge. Our analysis reveals that a range of climate interventions may complement intensified mitigation efforts (to reduce greenhouse gas emissions), but more research is urgently needed."

Read how McGrath sets the scene for the fight against climate change.

Mirrors in space and underwater curtains: can technology buy us enough time to save the Arctic ice caps?: The Guardian highlights topics at our conference.

25th June 2025

"The risks of not doing something need to be compared against the risks of trying to do something," says Shaun Fitzgerald in The Guardian today.

Ahead of our #ArcticRepair2025 conference, the article highlights the range of projects and people involved in the effort to protect our planet.

As Fitzgerald mentions, it's an invitation to consider the future as we weigh up different responses. "The research has to continue at pace because of the pace of climate change," he says. “If we think it’s bad now, we’ve got to think about the next 100 or so years.”

The Arctic Is Running Out of Time: Hugh Hunt writes for SRM360.

25th June 2025

Ahead of the Arctic Repair Conference, Hugh Hunt of Centre for Climate Repair shares an urgent reflection on Arctic climate decline – and why he believes research into additional measures like SRM must be expanded alongside emissions cuts.

From accelerating sea ice loss to the risks of doing nothing, his piece challenges us to think harder about what’s at stake and what we’re willing to explore.

“The iceman cometh to refreeze the Arctic”: ice thickening research featured in The Times.

22nd June 2025

In The Times this weekend, discover the simplicity of ice thickening in the Arctic - and the many challenges our research is hoping to untangle.

Shaun Fitzgerald, director of the Centre for Climate Repair at University of Cambridge, is part of a team testing the idea as a potential way to preserve sea ice in the face of global warming. Over the past few winters, they have been working on initial field trials with Real Ice and locals in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.

He was interviewed by The Times at the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. Over a coffee in the common room, they discussed the physics, the research, and why it matters to him.

On solid ice: the plan to refreeze the Arctic: Jacob Pantling in a feature on the project with Real Ice in Cambridge Bay.

21st June 2025

The Narwhal took a deep dive into the research we're a part of in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. Working with Real Ice and local people, the Centre for Climate Repair's Jacob Pantling is helping investigate how thickening the sea ice might protect it from global warming.

The author spent time with the group this winter, getting to know their research, motivations, and jokes made at each other's expense - all part of learning as a team.

"We are working hard to understand the science and the perspectives of people in our research," said Pantling. "It is fantastic to see both sides of that in the article."

Read both articles in The Narwhal ?

? On solid ice: the plan to refreeze the Arctic.

? What an effort to save Arctic sea ice means to the people who depend on it.

Five geoengineering trials the UK is funding to combat global warming: Robert Chris outlines new research projects testing climate cooling.

3rd June 2025

In a new article, Robert Chris describes geoengineering as a "crazy idea". But, he says, not intervening could be even more crazy. "Perhaps solar geoengineering is the price we must pay for our wholly inadequate climate change response to date."

He outlines some of the research expected to commence soon, funded by Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA), which includes projects led by University of Cambridge's Centre for Climate Repair.

These projects don't include any plans for deployment - they simply aim to fill current-knowledge gaps. But Chris argues that the potential of these ideas is really worth exploring:

"By my calculations (based on data from US climate scientist James Hansen), this reduction in the reflectivity of Earth has caused as much warming as the 750 gigatonnes of CO₂ emitted since 2005. And while it will take decades to achieve significant global cooling through decarbonisation, it can be achieved relatively quickly by small increases in reflectivity."

Arctic ice is vanishing – our bold experiment is trying to protect it: Shaun Fitzgerald writes on ice thickening for The Conversation

13th May 2025

"These ideas might sound fanciful, but the dramatic changes in the Arctic warrant investigation into interventions that could have an impact sooner than cutting emissions or removing greenhouse gases."

Dr Shaun Fitzgerald writes for The Conversation UK on ice thickening research in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. 

"Over the past 30 years, sea ice in the Arctic has decreased. Rising air temperatures coupled with warmer water flowing in from further south have meant the ice starts to form later in the year and melt earlier," writes Fitzgerald.

"With less sea ice, there are longer periods in summer where more of the sun’s energy is absorbed rather than reflected into space. This creates a feedback loop – the warmer the water, the less sea ice is formed; the less sea ice there is, the warmer it gets."

Shaun Fitzgerald is the director of the Centre for Climate Repair at the University of Cambridge, which has been working closely with Real Ice, Arctic Reflections, and local communities in Arctic regions. Together, they are testing ways to rethicken Arctic sea ice to help guard it against global warming.