There are growing calls in recent years for research on “solar geoengineering“, a set of entirely speculative technologies to reduce incoming sunlight on earth in order to limit global warming. Our initiative stands against such emerging initiatives to explore planetary techno-fixes as a climate policy option. Solar geoengineering deployment at planetary scale cannot be fairly and effectively governed in the current system of international institutions. It also poses unacceptable risk if ever implemented as part of future climate policy. A strong political message from governments, the United Nations and civil society is urgently needed.

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What is Solar Geoengineering?

Solar geoengineering (also known as solar radiation management or modification, SRM), refers to a set of speculative technologies to lower global temperatures by artificially intervening in the climate systems of our planet.

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Read here our Open Letter calling for an International Non-Use Agreement on Solar Geoengineering

The Open Letter is based on an extended peer-reviewed perspective article published in WIREs Climate Change on 17 January 2022.

Read the open access article here

Non-Use Agreement

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A call for 5 core commitments and measures
1No public funding
The commitment to prohibit national funding agencies from supporting the development of technologies for solar geoengineering, domestically and through international institutions.
2No outdoor experiments
The commitment to ban outdoor experiments of solar geoengineering technologies.
3No patents
The commitment to not grant patent rights for technologies for solar geoengineering, including supporting technologies such as for the retrofitting of airplanes for aerosol injections.
4No deployment
The commitment to not deploy technologies for solar geoengineering if developed by third parties.
5No support in international institutions
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450 +
Academics
have signed the Open Letter
61
Countries
represented by these academics
36
Organizations
have endorsed the Open Letter
2000 +
Citizens
have signed the Petition

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Quotes

Solar geoengineering is not necessary. Neither is it desirable, ethical, or politically governable. The normalization of solar geoengineering as a research topic and a speculative policy option must be stopped.
Prof. Frank Biermann
Prof. Frank BiermannProfessor of Global Sustainability Governance, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University
Solar geoengineering risks becoming a distraction from decisive climate action. We already count on speculative technologies because we don’t believe in changing our political and economic systems. Solar geoengineering is yet another example. It says it insures against the failure of climate politics. But if it becomes part of climate policy, that failure only becomes more likely
Dr. Jeroen Oomen
Dr. Jeroen OomenResearcher, Urban Futures Studio, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University
A speculative and highly risky techno-promise like solar geoengineering is a politically and ecologically dangerous distraction from what we actually need to do to address climate change: reduce entrenched inequalities and align our politics to help realize a just transition globally
Prof. Aarti Gupta
Prof. Aarti GuptaProfessor of Global Environmental Governance, Wageningen University
In the vital efforts to build pathways to sustainable, socially-just futures amidst climate and environmental change, solar radiation management and other forms of geo-engineering have no place - indeed they are incompatible with the inclusive, democratic and plural processes that the world desperately needs.
Prof. Melissa Leach
Prof. Melissa Leachdirector. institute of development studies
The implications of SRM for all states are so pervasive that prior informed consent from all states and non-state stakeholders should precede SRM deployment, anything less runs counter to justice and equity.
Michelle Scobie, PhD
Michelle Scobie, PhDLlB (Hons), LEC, Dipl. Int. Rel.. Senior Lecturer, International Law, Global Environmental Governance, Institute of International Relations.
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Solar Geoengineering Myths Debunked

This Briefing Note was compiled by a team of scholars supporting the call for an International Non-Use Agreement on Solar Geoengineering. It identifies and debunks the ten most prevalent myths advanced by solar geoengineering lobbyists
Briefing Note #1

Should We Block the Sun to Counter Climate Change?

Last month, a two-person start-up company by the name of Make Sunsets claimed that it had launched weather balloons filled with reflective sulfur particles into the sky somewhere over the coast of Baja California. As the world continues to fall short of the goals of the Paris agreement and the costs of climate change mount, is geoengineering an idea worth taking seriously, or is it a world-historically reckless distraction from the global effort to transition away from fossil fuels? Here’s a look at the debate.

The New York Times

My Continent Is Not Your Giant Climate Laboratory

Several environmentalists last year presented Africa’s leading climate negotiators with a bold idea: A technology called solar geoengineering could protect their countries from the worst effects of climate change, they said. It wasn’t the first time Westerners have tried to persuade Africans that solar engineering projects may be in our best interest. And it won’t be the last.
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