Solar Geoengineering as a Status Symbol in International Politics

[Geoengineering News]

https://direct.mit.edu/glep/article-abstract/doi/10.1162/GLEP.a.777/137061/Solar-Geoengineering-as-a-Status-Symbol-in?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Authors: Joshua B. Horton

06 June 2026

https://doi.org/10.1162/GLEP.a.777

Abstract

Solar geoengineering, in particular, stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI), has the potential to reduce near-term climate risks, albeit while introducing risks of its own. But SAI, or at least configurations of it characterized by exclusivity and conspicuousness, also has the potential to function as a status symbol in international politics by signaling a country’s power and preeminence. The implications of SAI playing such a role would be significant: status seeking would influence decisions about SAI separate from other considerations, bigger deployments would seem more likely, and SAI could become the focus of competitive “prestige races.” Researchers should start to consider these possibilities, beginning with an effort to identify which configurations of SAI are most likely to qualify as status symbols.

Source: MIT Press Direct