How two weather balloons led Mexico to ban solar geoengineering

One day in April, the founder of the American startup “Make Sunsets” stood outside a camper in Baja Californiain the north of Mexicoand released two weather balloons containing sulfur dioxide into the air, letting them float into the stratosphere.

Businessman Luke Iseman said the sulfur dioxide in the balloons would deflect sunlight and cool the atmosphere, a controversial climate strategy known as solar geoengineering. The Mexican government claimed that the launch violated its national sovereignty.

Iseman, 39, added that he doesn’t know what happened to the balloons. But the unauthorized release, made public in January, has already had an impact: it sparked a series of responses that could set the rules for future study of geoengineering, especially by private companies, in Mexico and around the world. .

The Mexican government told Reuters it is now actively drafting the “new regulations and standards” to ban solar geoengineering within the country. Mexico also plans to mobilize other countries to ban the climate strategy, a senior government official told Reuters.

While the Mexican government announced its intention to ban solar geoengineering in January, its current actions and plans to discuss geoengineering bans with other countries have not been previously reported.

“Progress is being made (…) to prepare the new regulations and standards on geoengineering, that is, to advance an official Mexican standard that prohibits said activity in the national territory”Mexico’s Environment Secretariat said in a statement sent to Reuters.

The Mexican counterattack comes as a growing number of scientists and lawmakers are urging more study of solar geoengineering, acknowledging that emissions cuts alone will not limit dangerous climate change and that additional innovations may be needed.

World ban

Climate policy experts said Mexico is in a position to help set the rules for future geoengineering research.

“A country like Mexico could start to bring other countries together and say, ‘Let’s work on this together and see how we can ban it together or make it happen right together.’”said Janos Pasztor, executive director of the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative (C2G), which advises on the governance of solar geoengineering and other climate-altering technologies.

The statement from Mexico’s environment ministry said it would explore the UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s call for a moratorium ons “climate-related geoengineering activities” to enforce its ban”.

Agustín Ávila, a senior environment ministry official, assured Reuters that Mexico will also try to find common ground with other countries on geoengineering at the COP global climate summit in the United Arab Emirates this year.

The Mexican government contended that the Make Sunsets balloon launch highlighted the ethical issues of allowing private companies to conduct geoengineering events.

“Why is this company, located in the United States, coming to Mexico to carry out experiments, and not carrying them out in the United States?” Avila wondered.

Iseman explained to Reuters in an email that he chose Mexico because “most researchers report that particles launched into the stratosphere near the tropics will create more cooling by staying airborne longer”. Plus, he had a pickup truck and RV in Baja and he thinks the region is beautiful, she wrote.

David Keith, a professor of applied physics and public policy at Harvard University who has devoted much of his research to solar geoengineering, called the Iseman launch a “trick”.

Iseman has a background in business, not science, but he said he consulted extensively with climate scientists. Other innovative startups were ridiculed in their early days, he said. “If the ‘responsible experts’ were solving the problem, we would not have to do it”he maintained in an email.

Supervision

Until Mexico’s dispute with Make Sunsets, solar geoengineering had drawn the attention of policymakers and scientists as a possible solution to climate change and limited research funding.

The strategy, also known as Solar Radiation Management (SRM), seeks to mimic the natural cooling effects of volcanic eruptions when ash clouds reflect enough sunlight to reduce global warming by use of airplanes or balloons to disperse tiny particles in the stratosphere.

Last month, 60 scientists, including former NASA climate scientist James Hansen, signed a letter in support of more geoengineering research.

The Degrees Initiative, a UK-based non-governmental group, awarded $900,000 for research into the impacts of solar geoengineering on weather patterns, wildlife and glaciers to scientists from Chile, India, Nigeria and other countries. .

In late February, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) also recommended further study of geoengineering.

However, some scientists continue to oppose further research, arguing that large-scale interventions in the atmosphere risk triggering extreme and unpredictable climate changes, including major droughts that would severely affect agriculture and food supplies.

In 2021, the Swedish government canceled a study led by Harvard University and involving Keith that planned to spray non-toxic calcium carbonate powder into the atmosphere to deflect sunlight, after indigenous Sami accused researchers of disrespect for the “Mother Earth”.

Frances Beinecke, a longtime environmental activist and member of the Climate Overshoot Commission, a think tank seeking strategies to limit future global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, said the Make Sunsets episode underscores the urgency of developing a regulatory framework. to allow further study of geoengineering and establish safe and equitable rules for its use.

“People can’t go all over the world and launch field experiments without some kind of oversight”he stressed.

Iseman said he would appreciate clearer regulation, but the international community is moving “very slowly”.

Mexico has not set a date to implement its ban on geoengineering, a spokeswoman for the environment ministry said. And it’s unclear what effect the ban might have.

Keith argues that a ban is unenforceable. “You can’t write legislation that says you can’t put sulfur in the stratosphere, since all commercial flights do that,” explained to Reuters.

Others point out that the prohibition of geoengineering in the territory of Mexico would not offer protection against the impact on a planetary scale of the future experiments of any of its neighbors. “It could literally happen next door. In terms of impacts on the world, it is the same”Pastor said.

Meanwhile, Make Sunsets said in a February 21 blog post that it had made three additional launches near Reno, Nevada.

The National Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Make Sunsets did not report the launches.

“The Weather Modification Act requires that any activity undertaken with the intent to produce artificial changes in the composition, behavior, or dynamics of the atmosphere be reported to the NOAA Weather Program Office prior to the commencement of such project or activity. ”NOAA told Reuters.

Iseman said he sought clearance from the Federal Aviation Authority, but did not disclose that the balloons contained sulfur dioxide. “As far as I can tell, there is no rule that requires us to do it, not even someone who is relevant to notify”he assured.

Source: Reuters