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Paper short abstract:

This paper looks at how state, intergovernmental bodies, and global scientific establishments look at the ethical, political, and planetary governance issues in researching, developing, and deploying various Solar Radiation Modification (SRM) initiatives/ technologies.

Paper long abstract:

The paper analyzes a set of documents produced by the governments, intergovernmental bodies, and global scientific establishments that include the recent congressionally mandated research plan and initial research governance framework by the White House, House of Commons Science and Technology Committee The Regulation of Geoengineering Fifth Report of Session 2009–10 Report and the UK Government's view and the Response to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee 5th Report of Session 2009-10: The Regulation of Geoengineering, The Royal Society's report, Greenhouse Glass removal and the United Nations Environment Programme's multidisciplinary expert panel report on Solar Radiation Modification. The paper demonstrates how even when some of these institutions are significantly concerned about potential risks and ethical issues in solar radiation modification, they are open to a future where researching, developing, and deploying solar radiation modification initiatives if they can cool the planet significantly at a given time. Further, some institutions might potentially be open to solar radiation modification initiatives even if that creates further disproportionate burden on counties and communities that were least responsible for the Anthropogenic Climate Change where cooling the planet at any cost could potentially become the priority. The paper broadly argues how ethics get complicated in the SRM debates and how that can make far reaching impacts for the most climate vulnerable regions and countries if Solar Radiation Modification initiatives get deployed.