Securing the Stratosphere: Solar Geoengineering Technology

This panel explores SAI as a potential space for climate militarism in a race for control of the atmosphere amid rising global tensions.

A looming challenge for international order in the coming decades will be how to address anthropocentric climate change. As hopes fade that international efforts to reduce carbon emissions through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be sufficient, some scientists and policymakers have started to turn to emergent technologies such as solar geoengineering, particularly Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI), as a possible solution to the growing climate crisis. However, these technologies present a number of environmental and geopolitical risks.

Contrary to claims that it will be vulnerable nations that lead the way on solar radiation modification (SRM) or that it will be developed for their benefit, SAI can only be practically deployed and maintained by countries with large-scale industrial capacities such as the major military powers. As calls for the declaration of a ’climate emergency’ increase, the turn to an ‘emergency’ response may become politically appealing sooner rather than later even if there remain outstanding uncertainties about its risks and benefits. This panel explores SAI as a potential arena for the expansion of climate militarism in a race to claim control or dominance of the atmosphere in the context of increasing international tensions and instability.

Speakers:

Dr Danielle Young

Dr Danielle Young is an Assistant Professor at the School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds. Her research examines parallels between nuclear weapons governance and emerging governance of solar geoengineering technology, specifically Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI). She is the Primary Investigator for the ARIA-funded project ‘Exploring Geopolitical Tipping Points and Climate Cooling Strategies’, which focuses specifically on examining the potential geopolitical implications of Solar Radiation Modification (SRM) research and deployment.

Dr Joanne Yao

Joanne Yao is a Reader (Associate Professor) in International Relations at Queen Mary, University of London. Her research focuses on environmental history and politics, the legacies of empire and historical international relations, and the development of early international organizations. Her first book, The Ideal River, on the first international organizations was the winner of the 2023 British International Studies Association's Outstanding First Book Prize and the 2024 International Studies Association Environmental Studies Section's Best Book Award. Her current project focuses on the international governance of Antarctica and early outer space exploration.

Dr Colleen Golja

Dr Colleen Golja is an independent research fellow at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London. Her research focuses on improving process level understanding of the climate response to climate intervention strategies, with a focus on stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI). To date her work has largely focused on assessing the microphysical evolution of proposed stratospheric aerosols in high density plumes, highlighting uncertainties underlying current parameterization schemes. Her current work investigates the climate impact of stratospheric heating from imposed aerosols, with an emphasis on understanding inter-model differences in the climate response to this type of forcing.

Dr Pauline Heinrichs

Dr Pauline Heinrichs is a lecturer in War Studies (Climate and Energy). Her research focuses on international climate diplomacy and the contestation of state security narratives in the context of climate change. She holds a British Academy Knowledge Frontiers Grant working on critical actuarial science and climate justice. Pauline has worked with and led international teams in conflict and post-conflict countries such as Ukraine and the Baltic States, and was selected as an Emerging Scholar by the Milton Wolf Seminar on Public Diplomacy. Pauline also brings professional climate diplomacy and foreign policy experience having worked for Germany’s foreign office and an international climate think tank.

Dr Kiran Phull

Dr Kiran Phull is a Lecturer in International Relations in the Department of War Studies. Her research examines the politics of global knowledge production using historical and sociological approaches, focusing particularly on the management of populations through opinion polling. She is interested in the critical interrogation of epistemic data technologies as forces that shape the conditions for governing social and political life, and she explores ways to challenge these dynamics.

This event will be co-hosted by the Centre for Statecraft & National Security and a drinks reception will follow the event.