From a Climate Tool to an Instrument of Power: The Geostrategic and Defence Implications of Solar Geoengineering

In the context of accelerating climate change, scientific and political discourses advocating research into solar geoengineering are multiplying. These methods, also referred to as “Solar Radiation Modification” (SRM), vary in complexity and aim to lower the global surface temperature by reflecting a portion of incoming sunlight back into space.

This report builds on the 2023 report of the Defence and Climate Observatory on the geostrategic and defence issues of SRM methods (De Guglielmo et al., 2023). Like this previous report, it seeks to broaden the analysis of SRM beyond its geophysical effects. It therefore looks beyond SRM’s climate objectives to explore how this sector raises geopolitical issues shaped by dependencies and struggles for influence. By focusing on an SRM method with global, transboundary and uncertain effects, this report also examines its potential to become integrated into security logics and power dynamics.