Geoengineering and Animal Ethics: The Case of Stratospheric Aerosol Injection

[Geoengineering News]

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21550085.2026.2643139#abstract

Authors: Leonie N. Bossert & Clare Palmer

11 March 2026

Abstract

Negative effects of anthropogenic climate change are accelerating. The threat climate change poses has prompted research into radical technological responses, including forms of solar radiation management (SRM). While there has been some consideration of the ethical challenges SRM technologies present, to date, these have almost exclusively concerned humans. Here, we take one leading form of SRM, stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI), and examine the ethical questions its deployment might present for wild animals. We map this terrain by investigating two overarching ethical questions: a) whether deploying stratospheric aerosol injection should be seen as in-principle wrong from animal ethics perspectives, and b) if not, or where it is not, what ethicists need to consider to morally evaluate SAI in the context of wild animals. To address the second question, we explore existing research gaps regarding empirical information on the effects of SAI on animals, the possible impacts of SAI on animal welfare, and its potential implications for justice issues when animals are included in theories of justice.

Source: Taylor & Francis