A call for strategic assessments of regional applications of solar radiation management: Exploring the challenges and opportunities from marine cloud brightening and albedo surface modification

• Published in: Environmental impact assessment review 2025-01, Vol.110, p.107701, Article 107701
• Main Authors: Baresi, U., Baum, C.M., Fischer, T.B., Lockie, S., Piggott-McKellar, A., Graham, V., Bohensky, E., Fritz, L.B., Shumway, N., Harrison, D.P., Foster, R., Sovacool, B.K., Vella, K., Ristovski, Z.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Assisted ecosystem adaptation; Geoengineering governance; Marine cloud brightening; Public engagement; Solar radiation management; Strategic environmental assessment
• ISSN: 0195-9255
• DOI: 10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107701

Technological advancements offer the opportunity for interventions to reduce and potentially even counteract the impacts of climate change. However, advancements that can facilitate the adaptation of human and natural ecosystems to climate change, and possibly lessen the intensity and damaging impacts of extreme weather events, come with social, technical, and environmental challenges. These challenges are triggered by the complexity and uncertainty associated with their deployment in real-world settings. In this paper, we consider Solar Radiation Management interventions aiming to limit the heat absorbed by our planet's surface and trapped in its atmosphere, focusing on Marine Cloud Brightening and Albedo Surface Modification, particularly to protect ice surfaces, as examples of regional-scale interventions. Building on the need for more socially inclusive decision-making around these interventions, as highlighted by the Australian case study of the Great Barrier Reef's Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program, this paper proposes a policy framework with worldwide potential to assist with regional Solar Radiation Management. To this end, we suggest the use of Strategic Environmental Assessment, a United Nations recognised policy framework that is applied internationally to support environmentally sustainable strategic decision-making and planning. We consider Strategic Environmental Assessment's performance criteria in relation to Solar Radiation Management and discuss how these align with much-needed assistance in developing socially inclusive Solar Radiation Management interventions. [Display omitted] •Principles for geoengineering governance are not applied to regional interventions.•Regional geoengineering interventions may fail due to limited public engagement.•Strategic Environmental Assessment aligns with geoengineering governance principles.•Tiered Strategic Environmental Assessment enables collaborations on geoengineering.•Strategic Environmental Assessment provides a policy framework for geoengineering.