Funder
Learning
Series
The Funder Learning Series features expert-led briefings and Q&As on emerging research and cross-sectoral efforts to understand and manage overshoot risks. All sessions are virtual and can be joined live on zoom. All previous session content is also available below - including recordings, slides, and relevant reading.
Upcoming
Sessions
February 24, 2026 | 12pm-1pm EST / 9am-10am PST
Session 17:
To be announced
March 10, 2026 | 12pm-1pm EST / 9am-10am PST
Session content to be announced.
Session 16:
A Large Overlooked Climate Risk: Earth’s Declining Reflectivity
Since 2000 the Earth has rapidly become less reflective, causing it to absorb much more solar energy. This additional energy is equivalent to about 2,400 billion tons of additional CO2 emissions, roughly three times humanity's cumulative emissions during this period. The decline in Earth’s reflectivity seems to be (at least partially) caused by declining cloud cover and potentially by cleanup of particulate pollution, but we still lack a full explanation. The big fear is that declining reflectivity is a strong feedback loop driven by hotter temperatures, which could imply that future warming will be much worse than expected. Dr. Phil Duffy, former lead Biden White House climate scientist, will explain what is known and not known about these concerning trends and will outline research needed to shed further light on them.
Previous
Sessions
Session 1:
An honest look at where we are: Accelerating warming and climate system feedbacks
June 3, 2025
Dr. Phil Duffy, former lead Biden White House climate scientist, offers a comprehensive look at the accelerating pace of warming and potential adverse feedback loops.
Session 2:
Managing the risk of catastrophic sea level rise
June 17, 2025
Dr. Brent Minchew, an MIT glaciologist who explores the threat of catastrophic sea-level rise driven by glacial collpase, and potential options to stabilize the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
Session 3:
History of Geoengineering and the evolving climate interventions landscape
July 1, 2025
Senior Editor of The Economist and science writer Oliver Morton, author of The Planet Remade: How Geoengineering Could Change the World, provides a history and overview of climate intervention ideas.
Session 4:
Superpollutants: The other half of warming
July 15, 2025
Erika Reinhardt and Dr. Ilissa Ocko, co-founder and senior climate scientist at Spark Climate Solutions, walk through the impact of super pollutants on warming, their role in near-term climate risk, and pathways to reduce or remove these emissions.
Session 5:
Sunlight Reflection: What we know, what we don’t know, and the research ahead
July 29, 2025
Dr. Daniele Visioni and Dakota Gruener provide an introduction to the state of scientific research on sunlight reflection, with a focus on stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI).
Session 6:
Climate systems engineering research today
August 12, 2025
Dr. David Keith provides an overview of the field of climate systems engineering, thoughts on how sunlight reflection might fit into a larger climate strategy, how it relates to carbon removal, and practical engineering aspects of different interventions.
Session 7:
Open-system carbon dioxide removal
September 9, 2025
Dr. Antonius Gagern and Dai Ellis, Executive Director and CEO of The Carbon to Sea Initiative and Cascade Climate, provide an overview of the open-system carbon dioxide removal ecosystem.
Session 8:
Kim Stanley Robinson, author of The Ministry for the Future
September 25, 2025
Acclaimed science fiction author of Ministry for the Future Kim Stanley Robinsonexplores his motivation for the book, as well as many of the research pathways and ideas that he highlighted in it.
Session 9:
Evaluating climate tipping points: research gaps and opportunities
October 7, 2025
Joshua Elliott, Chief Scientist at Renaissance Philanthropy and Director of their ARC Initiative, shares an overview of the climate risk categories that need tracking and different ways to approach prioritization of researching these risks.
Session 10:
The first government research effort to predict and prevent climate tipping points
October 21, 2025
Ilan Gur, CEO of The UK’s Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA) will be joined by Gemma Bale and George Horner to introduce the Forecasting Tipping Points and Exploring Climate Cooling Programs and discuss how philanthropic funders can help to catalyze greater government leadership.
In-Person Convening Content
Frontier Climate Research Funder Summit
November 4, 2025
On November 4th, we gathered in San Francisco for the first Frontier Climate Research Funder Summit. Pre-recorded versions of the presentations and the associated slides can be accessed via the “Funder Summit Content” link to right.
Session 11:
Arctic Tipping Cluster: Risk and Response
November 18, 2025
Dr. Charlotte DeWald, Director of the Arctic Climate Emergencies Response (ACER) Initiative, outlines imminent < 2 °C tipping points in the Arctic, including permafrost thaw, the Greenland Ice Sheet, and sea ice loss — and introduces a suite of Arctic-targeted interventions, including mixed-phase cloud thinning and sea-ice stabilization, that could form the backbone of a readiness and response toolkit.
Session 12:
Derailment Risk: A Strategic Blind Spot
December 2, 2025
It is often assumed that our agency will only grow as climate impacts escalate: a positive feedback, in which worsening climate consequences reinforce climate action. But the opposite can also happen. Laurie Laybourn, Executive Director of the Strategic Climate Risks Initiative explores derailment risk: the risk that climate consequences undermine climate action, derailing the world from avoiding worst case outcomes.
Session 13:
Coral Reef Conservation:
The Australian Marine Cloud Brightening Research Program
December 16, 2025
If coral reefs are a ‘canary in the coal mine’ of climate change, then the future is looking ominous. The Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program, a consortium of Australian governmental research organizations and universities, was established to investigate options for helping the Great Barrier Reef survive climate change. Of the options under consideration, Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB) has consistently topped evaluations of future benefit. But can this potential be realized? In this session, we heard from oceanographer and engineer Dr. Daniel Harrison, who leads a pioneering MCB technology development and outdoor field testing effort, with deep community involvement and regulatory oversight.
Session 14:
Arctic Sea Ice and Global Climate Stability: Understanding Cascading Risks and Exploring Potential Response
January 13, 2026
Ocean Visions’ Brad Ack, CEO, and Dr. Virginia Selz, Director of the Repair Program, explore the connections between Arctic sea ice and global climate stability, including how sea ice loss relates to critical tipping points in the Arctic and the broader ocean system. Discussing both established and emerging approaches that may help slow — and potentially reverse — ongoing sea ice loss.
Session 15:
Youth-led Organizations: At the Forefront of Advocating for Climate Intervention Research
January 27, 2026
We are joined by two youth-led climate organizations at the forefront of the climate advocacy movement, Operaatio Arktis in the Arctic and Emerging Climate Frontiers in Sub-Saharan Africa, for a conversation about why they have chosen to focus on climate intervention research.
The discussion explored what led these groups from more conventional climate approaches to engaging with overshoot risks and intervention research. Later discussing what youth leadership uniquely contributes to this space and how cross-regional collaboration is shaping new approaches to managing long-term climate risk.
Launch Event
The Overshoot Funding Challenge Launch Event
February 4, 2026 | 10:30am -11am PST
A launch call with Outlier Projects’ founder Mike Schroepfer and several of our partners for The Overshoot Funding Challenge.
The Overshoot Funding Challenge will accelerate research to manage climate overshoot risks by mobilizing new philanthropic funding for frontier research programs at twelve leading organizations featured at the November Funder Summit in San Francisco. Their work is indispensable for a safe climate future, but remains underfunded relative to its importance and their absorptive capacity.