Highly decentralized solar geoengineering
Open accessAbstract
Nonstate actors appear to have increasing power, in part due to new technologies that alter actors’ capacities and incentives. Although solar geoengineering is typically conceived of as centralized and state-deployed, we explore highly decentralized solar geoengineering. Done perhaps through numerous small high-altitude balloons, it could be provided by nonstate actors such as environmentally motivated nongovernmental organizations or individuals. Conceivably tolerated or even covertly sponsored by states, highly decentralized solar geoengineering could move presumed action from the state arena to that of direct intervention by nonstate actors, which could in turn, disrupt international politics and pose novel challenges for technology and environmental policy. We conclude that this method appears technically possible, economically feasible, and potentially politically disruptive. Decentralization could, in principle, make control by states difficult, perhaps even rendering such control prohibitively costly and complex.
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A highly political, uncoordinated, and decentralized 'Wild West' deployment scenario, with unclear direct impacts, is possible.
“Given the high variance of potential SAI objectives and potential deployment configurations, a highly political, uncoordinated, and decentralized (Reynolds and Wagner, 2020) 'Wild West' deployment scenario, with unclear direct impacts, is possible.”
From A Fate Worse Than Warming? Stratospheric Aerosol Injection and Global Catastrophic Risk (2021) · cites this paper as Reynolds and Wagner, 2020
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- Authors
- Reynolds, J. L., & Wagner, G.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- New York University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wagner, Gernot
- Venue
- Environmental Politics
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2019-07-29
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 917-933
- ISSN
- 0964-4016 (ISSN-L)
- 1743-8934
- OpenAlex
- W2964530838
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 68
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 20
- FWCI
- 3.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Locations
- Environmental Politics (publishedVersion)
- SSRN Electronic Journal (acceptedVersion)
- Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Harvard’s Solar Geoengineering Research Program (na)
- Emmett/Frankel Fellowship in Environmental Law and Policy at University of California, Los Angeles (na)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Climate Change and Geoengineering
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Space exploration and regulation
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Atmospheric aerosols and clouds
- Keywords
- solar geoengineering, high-altitude balloons, non-state actors, non-governmental organizations, international politics, environmental policy, technology policy, geoengineering governance
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