Earned Consent: Rethinking the Authority to Refuse Solar Geoengineering

[Geoengineering News]

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21550085.2026.2681591

Authors: Niñoval F. Pacaol & Mary Eimeren P. Tumulak

Published online: 29 May 2026

Abstract

The worsening climate crisis amid lagging action has renewed ethical debate over solar geoengineering. We argue that this debate, however substantive, insufficiently addresses the principle behind much of the opposition: consent. Critics consistently maintain that solar geoengineering must not proceed without consent from states and their citizens. In this note, we hold that consent is not absolute. It can be overridden when those withholding it are primary contributors to the emissions driving the crisis the intervention seeks to address.

Source: Taylor & Francis