Ideological divides around solar radiation modification geoengineering

[Geoengineering News]

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629626002781

Authors: Gareth Davies

15 June 2026

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2026.104807

Abstract

Research into geoengineering by Solar Radiation Modification is strongly opposed by significant groups, despite its apparently benevolent aims. This article considers whether that standpoint is best explained by (i) fears about safety, moral hazard or governance, (ii) confidence in speedy emissions reduction, or (iii) concerns about the kind of society that SRM geoengineering may create or allow to continue. It finds that the third is the most plausible explanation. Concerns about SRM synergies with capitalism, exploitation, and the instrumentalization of nature mean that people committed to certain social and economic ideals will reject SRM even if – precisely if – it is potentially workable and safe. It is those wider ideals that explain and justify calls to stop research, as other issues around SRM are riddled with unknowns that only research can address. The significance of locating SRM disagreements in ideological commitments is that these cannot be resolved by more research and improving understanding. That has consequences for policy-makers, politics and academics.

Source: ScienceDirect