The MEER Newsletter

The briefing argues that climate risks are cascading, non-linear and underestimated: several tipping points are moving faster than forecast, and some appear to have been crossed already at today's roughly 1.5°C (2.7°F) of warming. Protecting the places and peoples we care about, it says, means working back toward the relatively stable Holocene conditions of the last 9,000 years, when carbon dioxide stayed below 280 parts per million.

Getting there requires three levers rather than one: reducing emissions to zero at emergency speed, removing carbon by drawdown, and repairing the Earth's energy balance through research into safe cooling interventions. The harsh conclusion is that the first two levers alone cannot stop warming pushing past 1.5°C (2.7°F) — and in all likelihood 2°C (3.6°F) — because warming already committed, plus the rising Earth energy imbalance, is locked into the system.

Among the albedo approaches reviewed, the paper points to “enhancing surface reflection with mirrors, such as the Mirrors for Earth's Energy Rebalancing (MEER) project”, noting that the approach is at an early stage of research development but “appears to not be bounded by material or energy use constraints”. It is a useful, independent framing of where surface cooling sits within a wider climate strategy.

An interesting new urban cooling experiment is underway in Washington, DC, where the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) has launched its Cool Corridors Pilot to investigate whether solar-reflective pavement can help reduce extreme heat across the city.

Launched in July 2026, the project is testing reflective pavement coatings at five locations in heat-vulnerable neighborhoods. Rather than absorbing large amounts of incoming solar energy, as conventional dark pavement does, the coatings are designed to reflect more sunlight back into the environment.

DDOT estimates that the treatments could reduce pavement surface temperatures by as much as 20°F — approximately 11°C.

Importantly, the project is not simply installing the coatings and assuming that a cooler surface means a cooler environment. American University is conducting before-and-after monitoring to assess their real-world performance and determine whether reductions in pavement temperature translate into meaningful improvements in conditions at street level.

This distinction is important. Previous research into reflective pavements has demonstrated substantial reductions in surface temperature, but has also raised questions about where the reflected solar energy ultimately goes. Increasing the reflectivity of a horizontal surface can increase the amount of sunlight experienced by pedestrians and surrounding structures during the day, potentially affecting human thermal comfort even while the pavement itself becomes considerably cooler.

The Washington pilot therefore provides an interesting example of the increasingly sophisticated approach cities are taking towards heat adaptation: measuring not only whether an intervention cools a particular surface, but how it changes the wider thermal environment.

DDOT is also considering reflective pavement alongside complementary measures such as tree canopy and green infrastructure, recognizing that there is unlikely to be a single solution to urban heat.

The results, expected by the end of 2026, should provide useful real-world evidence about where reflective pavement works best, its limitations, and whether the approach should be expanded to other heat-prone areas of Washington.

For MEER, projects such as this are particularly interesting. They demonstrate the growing international interest in managing solar radiation at the surface as a practical climate-adaptation tool, while also highlighting the importance of carefully measuring how reflective interventions affect surfaces, buildings and, ultimately, the people living within increasingly hot urban environments.

International supporter of MEER, Maarten Bijl, attended Denmark's National Climate Summit (Det Nationale Klimatopmøde 2026) at the Klimatorium in Lemvig this August.

The summit brings together climate experts, researchers, policymakers, organizations and industry representatives to discuss how societies can respond practically to the realities of a rapidly changing climate.

A major focus of this year's gathering is climate adaptation — moving beyond recognizing the scale of climate risk towards developing and implementing solutions that can help communities cope with increasingly challenging environmental conditions.

This is particularly relevant to MEER's work. As global temperatures continue to rise, there is an increasingly urgent need for practical adaptation measures that can reduce people's exposure to extreme heat and make homes, schools, healthcare facilities, workplaces and communities more resilient.

Maarten's attendance provided an opportunity to represent MEER within the wider European climate adaptation community, exchange ideas with others working on practical responses to climate change, and raise awareness of MEER's approach to passive cooling and reducing heat exposure through reflective surfaces and other locally deployable interventions.

International forums such as Denmark's National Climate Summit are an important opportunity to connect MEER's work with the wider climate adaptation conversation and strengthen relationships with organizations and individuals working towards practical solutions for a hotter world.

Have a community story? If you are taking part in an event on behalf of MEER, promoting our work, or seeing reflective cooling make a difference where you live, let us know. We would love to share your story in a future newsletter.