Govern Geoengineering

This report by the Center for International Environmental Law argues that a restrictive international governance framework for geoengineering already exists across environmental agreements and human rights law, but is being undermined by a proliferation of outdoor experiments and commercial carbon markets.

• The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) established a de facto moratorium on all geoengineering in 2010, which was reaffirmed in 2016 and 2024. This restriction allows only small-scale scientific research in controlled settings that is fully justified, subject to environmental impact assessment, and causes no transboundary harm, explicitly ruling out commercial purposes like carbon offsetting.
• The London Convention/London Protocol (LC/LP) restricts marine geoengineering and effectively prohibited ocean fertilization in 2008. In 2023, governments indicated that activities other than legitimate scientific research should be deferred for four additional categories: microbubbles, marine cloud brightening, ocean alkalinity enhancement, and biomass cultivation and dumping.
• Geoengineering may violate broader international laws, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). A 2024 Advisory Opinion from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) stated that marine geoengineering could violate UNCLOS if it introduces pollutants or converts one form of pollution into another.
• Geoengineering poses significant risks to human rights, including the right to life, health, food, and water. A 2023 Human Rights Council Advisory Committee report noted that because these technologies are applied globally, they could indiscriminately affect "millions or perhaps billions of people," with disproportionate impacts on rural communities, peasants, and Indigenous Peoples.
• There is a rapid increase in outdoor geoengineering experiments despite existing restrictions. Data from the Geoengineering Monitor Map indicates that at least 598 outdoor trials have been proposed since 1971, with over 90 percent proposed between 2004 and 2023. Between 2019 and 2023, solar geoengineering experiments tripled and marine carbon dioxide removal field experiments quadrupled compared to 2014-2018.
• Voluntary carbon markets and decisions from COP29 are identified as drivers for the commercialization of geoengineering. The report argues that credits generated from geoengineering experiments should not be traded under the climate regime, as the CBD and LC/LP rule out projects with commercial elements.
• There is growing momentum for an International Non-Use Agreement on Solar Geoengineering, supported by over 500 academics from more than 50 countries, the European Parliament, the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment, and nearly 2,000 civil society organizations.

APA

Church, M. (2025). Govern Geoengineering. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/govern-geoengineering/

Chicago

Church, Mary. Govern Geoengineering. Center for International Environmental Law, 2025. https://www.ciel.org/govern-geoengineering/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Church |first1=Mary |title=Govern Geoengineering |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=5 March 2025 |url=https://www.ciel.org/govern-geoengineering/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{church2025govern, author = {Church, Mary}, title = {{Govern Geoengineering}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2025}, month = mar, url = {https://www.ciel.org/govern-geoengineering/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }