The British government has rejected the use of solar geoengineering, saying it has “no plans to deploy” controversial techniques designed to block sunlight and artificially cool the planet.
In an official response to the parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee, the government said it opposed Solar Radiation Management, often described as “sun dimming”, and confirmed that Britain wouldn’t pursue its deployment in Antarctica or elsewhere.
The statement came after the committee called for clarity on the UK position, warning that experiments being considered in the country – such as using balloons to release dust into the atmosphere or spraying seawater to brighten clouds – risked setting a dangerous precedent.
Geoengineering refers to deliberate interventions in the planet’s climate system like brightening clouds with seawater sprays, releasing reflective particles into the upper atmosphere, or thinning cirrus clouds that trap heat.
The techniques are highly controversial. Advocates say they could temporarily buy time if global heating races past climate targets. But critics argue they carry huge environmental risks, and could distract from cutting greenhouse gas emissions – the root cause of the climate crisis.
The statement came in the same week as a group of over 40 polar scientists published a wide-ranging assessment concluding that geoengineering concepts proposed to slow polar ice loss were unrealistic, unaffordable and could bring “severe environmental damage”.
Earlier this year, the government’s £800m Advanced Research and Invention Agency confirmed that some £50m of its budget would fund exploratory geoengineering research, including modelling possible ways to cool the Earth.
Among the proposals was an attempt to thicken Arctic sea ice, brighten clouds above the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, and float weather balloons containing natural minerals high in the stratosphere which would be retrieved after “hours or weeks”.
A study published in Frontiers in Science this week assessed five of the most widely discussed polar geoengineering ideas. All failed basic tests for feasibility and safety.
Other researchers involved in the study warned that particle-based sunlight dimming could disrupt monsoons vital for farming, intensify regional droughts, or create new political tensions if deployed without international consensus.
James Kirkham, a co-author of the study and scientific adviser to a coalition of governments focused on melting ice, said many of the ideas were being pushed with slick public relations campaigns despite little chance of success.
“No current geoengineering idea passes an objective and comprehensive test regarding its use in the coming decades,” he said in the journal article.
Britain has previously funded limited research into solar geoengineering, an idea that has been debated for more than 50 years. But such attempts have always been met with fierce response.
Environmental groups and many scientists have long warned that pursuing solar geoengineering could legitimise its use by other countries or even private actors.
The UK government’s position puts it in line with other nations that have publicly rejected deploying solar radiation management even as some continue to fund research. Ministers said Britain’s priority remained emissions cuts and international diplomacy, not untested interventions.
