A contingency plan
for a warming planet.
We research technologies to reduce risks from severe climate change. Our focus is on novel, game-changing opportunities employing Sunlight Reflection Methods (SRM). We publish our research contributions and disseminate information for informed decision making and development of governance policies.
CCI does not advocate for SRM deployment.
Our vision is a world prepared with credible options to prevent climate extremes before they become irreversible. Global warming is accelerating. Likelihood is increasing that we'll cross climate tipping points which could trigger abrupt, self-reinforcing warming. Consequences of this scenario would be severe for ecosystems, economies, and human well-being. Humanity may need contingency options beyond emissions reductions, adaptation, and carbon removal.
Sunlight Reflection Methods (SRM) could expand the set of options available in a climate emergency, but only if its operational feasibility, limits, risks, and uncertainties are understood through rigorous, transparent research. We will contribute public-interest knowledge needed to characterize hazards, improve evaluation and monitoring, and support the development of robust governance — so that if SRM is ever considered, decisions are informed by science and accountability rather than made in the dark or under crisis pressure.
What CCI stands for.
CCI does not advocate for SRM deployment. We support emissions reduction, adaptation, and carbon removal as the first and most important responses to climate change.
Our work is focused on responsible scientific research and contingency planning. We study potential climate-risk mitigation options so that society can better understand what may or may not be technically feasible, safe, governable, and appropriate in severe climate-risk scenarios.
CCI is committed to open science, transparency, accountability, independent review, and governance-first research. We believe powerful climate technologies must be evaluated carefully before crisis conditions force rushed decisions.
SRM is not a substitute for emissions reductions, adaptation, or carbon removal. It should only be studied with humility, caution, and strong public-interest governance.
Read our full statement on responsible research
"The Institute exists to advance technological contingencies against scenarios of severe or catastrophic global warming. It develops capability; it does not advocate deployment. Its purpose is to ensure that, should the world ever face a choice among grave options, that choice is better informed and better equipped. Our mission is not to make that choice, and not to hasten the day it must be made."
The Institute affirms that reducing emissions is the primary obligation and the primary remedy, and that no capability it develops is a substitute for it. Any such capability is conceived only as a possible complement to mitigation, adaptation, and carbon removal — never as a reason to relax the effort to stop causing the harm at its source.
"The only circumstance in which the Institute would regard deployment as potentially justified is one in which mitigation has failed, grave harm is imminent or underway, and every available response — including inaction — is severely bad. In such a circumstance the capability might be the least bad option; but it would then be justified as a tragic necessity, not as a demand of justice, and the Institute does not claim the standing to make that judgment alone."
Science meets systems engineering.
Interdisciplinary Frontiers
CCI pursues opportunities for advancement by focusing in cross-disciplinary spaces. We work at the intersection of multiple disciplines. These include fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, structures, heat transfer, materials, and power systems. By bringing together disciplines that rarely collaborate, we uncover new design spaces, challenge conventional assumptions, and create opportunities for breakthroughs that no single field could achieve alone.
Systems Engineering Applied to Climate Science
We bring systems-engineering rigor to the evaluation of SRM concepts, asking not only whether they are scientifically plausible, but whether they can be made operationally feasible. This requires examining deployment constraints, failure modes, safety margins, and real-world limits that laboratory research alone cannot resolve.
Scientific Integrity & Peer Review
We submit our findings for peer review and publish them openly. We document uncertainties, disclose limitations, and avoid overstating conclusions. Our work is made available for scientific and public scrutiny, so others can examine, test, and challenge it.
Built by scientists and engineers.
Tom Jackson
FounderTom brings a multidisciplinary record of technical leadership, research, and innovation to his role as founder. He previously founded an R&D company and served as Principal Investigator on National Science Foundation and commercial research programs. His work included patenting and manufacturing aircraft components and authoring more than a dozen peer-reviewed papers. In 2006, he shifted focus to mission assurance for U.S. government launches on SpaceX rockets. He served as a Senior Principal Engineer across multiple technical disciplines and supported various "gray beard" expert technical panels. In 2024, Tom turned his attention to applying aerospace technology to climate challenges.
Qiong Jackson
Co-founder & FunderQiong holds two Masters degrees (Physics and Mechanical Engineering) and a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue (1996), focused on machine learning for hyperspectral satellite imagery. She then served 14 years as technical lead and management developing space-based sensors at Northrop Grumman. In 2016 she shifted to finance, becoming a licensed financial advisor and certified financial planner. She is now owner of a rapidly growing financial services company with nine figures under management. Her philanthropic support has enabled the formation of CCI.
Joe Pope
Founding ScientistJoe is a veteran of California's aerospace industry specializing in environmental testing and hardware integration. He provided long-term mission assurance for NASA weather missions (JPSS and GOES) and numerous USAF and USSF programs, and has been involved in satellite, rocket, and military aircraft testing for Hughes, Raytheon, and The Aerospace Corporation. Throughout his career, Joe has been active with the Aerospace Testing Seminar (ATS) and the Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology (IEST). He earned his MSME from Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in 1991 and is now applying his career of testing rigor to climate risk mitigation.
Jackie Last name TBD
Team MemberJill Last name TBD
Team MemberCCI has been funded through philanthropy of the Jackson family for 2 years. Now that our first research programs have passed Preliminary Feasibility Review milestones we are looking to grow our scientific/engineering staff and will seek outside grants.
Additional funders and partners will be listed here as relationships are confirmed.
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