A US research non-profit called the Arctic Ice Project (AIP) is closing down its operations and has cancelled ongoing geoengineering experiments in the Arctic, citing environmental concerns and “potential risks to the Arctic food chain”.
The Silicon Valley-based organisation proposed the release of tiny silica particles over parts of the Arctic Ocean, which would in theory reflect sunlight from the surface and cool down melting ice.
Announcing the shutdown last week, AIP said test results – along with “skepticism towards geoengineering”, funding barriers and “resistance” to introducing new materials into the Arctic Ocean – had led it to end the project, which was conceived over a decade ago.
The proposed technique is one of several controversial methods aimed at slowing down global warming and its effects on the Earth. Broadly grouped under the term “geoengineering”, these emerging technologies have garnered growing attention in international policy discussions, with some countries like Switzerland proposing global regulation. Other countries like Mexico have placed cautionary bans on experiments.
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Climate and indigenous campaigners welcomed the shutdown of AIP’s experiments in Alaska and noted that indigenous communities in Alaska have long opposed the project’s activities over fears of collateral impacts.
“Our concerns about the reckless use of harmful materials were dismissed, yet we knew that the health of our ecosystems and the wisdom of our people must not be overlooked,” said Panganga Pungowiyi, a climate geoengineering organiser at the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN).
Ongoing experiments
More than 190 countries have signed a moratorium on new geoengineering experiments under the United Nations’ biodiversity convention, a decision that was reaffirmed at last year’s COP16 summit in Cali, Colombia.
However, dozens of new experiments have taken place in the last five years, according to German non-profit Geoengineering Monitor, including the use of methods that are currently covered by the international moratorium.
For example, Geoengineering Monitor recorded 27 ocean fertilisation experiments (harvesting plankton in the ocean to increase photosynthesis and capture CO2) and 17 solar radiation management experiments (spraying sulphur particles into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight and cool down the planet).
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In 2024, US-based startup Make Sunsets drew fire because it sprayed sulphur particles into the air in Mexico without prior consent, leading the country to enact a precautionary ban on similar tests.
The startup has been selling “cooling credits” – a similar concept to carbon credits, where companies fund emissions-cutting projects to offset their climate impact – to finance experiments and has conducted at least seven more tests in several places across California.
The US, which is not a signatory to the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), allows companies to engage in geoengineering tests under the Weather Modification Act of 1976, as long as they report them.
Aerial drone view of ice textures formed in the Svinafellsjokull glacier following global warming, Iceland, Polar Regions (Photo: Copyright: carloxalbertoxconti)
Arctic ice management
Despite AIP winding down its operations in the Arctic, other startups have ventured into the lesser-known group of methods known as Arctic ice management, which seek to halt melting ice through human interventions.
AIP aimed to use tiny particles of silicon dioxide, which it described as similar to “small, fine, white beach sand that floats”, to increase the reflectivity of sea ice and cool down the Arctic. Some others have pursued the same method.
US-based Bright Ice Initiative – which was also set up by AIP’s founder Leslie Field – has conducted experiments on glaciers in Iceland and plans new tests at the Chhota Shigri Glacier in the Indian Himalayas. A 2022 study published in the journal Earth’s Future suggested the particles might actually accelerate the loss of sea ice.
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Other companies have tried different approaches. UK-based startup Real Ice seeks to “refreeze” the Arctic by pumping seawater from below the ice to the surface during winter months to try and thicken ice cover. It aims to test the technique in Canada’s northern Nunavut region and eventually sell “cooling credits”.
Many indigenous organisations, meanwhile, have called for a halt to these experiments. “Nature is not a laboratory; it is a living entity we are in relationship with,” said the IEN’s Pungowiyi, cautioning against “other forms of geoengineering that threaten our sacred spaces”.
(Reporting by Sebastian Rodriguez; editing by Megan Rowling)
The post Arctic geoengineering experiment shuts down over environmental risks appeared first on Climate Home News.
Arctic geoengineering experiment shuts down over environmental risks
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The fossil fuel crisis triggered by the Iran war should push nations to speed up their shift towards clean energy and break their dependence on volatile sources, energy and climate ministers said on Tuesday.
Murat Kurum, Türkiye’s climate minister and COP31 president, said the crisis was yet another demonstration that fossil fuels cannot guarantee energy security, making it crucial for countries to diversify by investing in renewable energy.
“We know that relying solely on fossil fuels means walking towards volatility, insecurity and climate collapse,” he told fellow ministers at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, an annual gathering in Berlin that traditionally opens the global climate diplomacy calendar.
Ministers from more than 30 countries, along with United Nations representatives, are meeting until Wednesday to lay the groundwork for a deal to accelerate climate action at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye.
They will debate how to ramp up efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, mobilise climate finance amid shrinking international aid budgets, and leverage a strained multilateral system to deliver results.
Fossil fuels not the answer
The gathering is taking place in the shadow of what some energy analysts have described as the largest oil and gas supply disruption in history. The conflict in the Middle East has sent oil and gas prices soaring, with growing ripple effects on food production and industrial manufacturing.
Australia’s escalating fuel crisis meant the country’s energy minister Chris Bowen, who will also be in charge of COP31 negotiations, cancelled his trip to the Berlin summit. Joining by videolink, he said the crisis is a “unique opportunity” to underline the message that “energy reliability, energy sovereignty and energy security are entirely in keeping with strong decarbonisation”.
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“Doubling down on fossil fuels is not the answer to this crisis,” he added. “Wind cannot be subject to a sanction, the sun cannot be interrupted by a blockade. These are all reliable forms of energy, which must be supported by storage”.
Electrification is a “megatrend”
Echoing Bowen’s remarks, Germany’s climate minister Carsten Schneider said the current crisis will be “an accelerator [of the energy transition] because it will help many people understand and realise how dependent we are on fossil fuels”.
He added that “electrification is turning into a global megatrend” but called for more discussion on how to ensure that industry and transport become less reliant on oil and gas across the world.
At last year’s climate talks, countries failed to agree to start a process to draft a global plan to shift away from oil, coal and gas. But the Brazilian COP30 presidency is taking it upon itself to deliver this roadmap before the summit in Antalya.
Discussions are expected to kick into higher gear at the first-ever conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels due to start at the end of this week in Colombia. COP30 president André Corrêa do Lago has said the roadmap should be published in September.
Clear plans needed
Addressing the Petersberg summit, the head of the United Nations António Guterres said that transition roadmaps can help countries manage urgent choices during the ongoing fuel crisis while advancing a just transition to a clean and secure energy future.
“We must respond to the energy crisis without deepening the climate crisis,” he added. “Short-term measures must not lock in long-term fossil fuel dependence and expansion”.
The ministers argued that, despite the US withdrawal from international climate diplomacy under President Trump, other countries remained committed to working together to tackle the climate crisis.
But Türkiye’s Kurum scolded the more than 40 governments that have not yet published their national climate plans, more than a year after the official UN deadline. These are mostly smaller nations, but the group of laggards also includes Vietnam, Argentina and Egypt.
“We will ensure that countries fulfil the fundamental requirements of the COP,” he said, adding that his team is working intensely with the UN to ensure these plans – known as nationally determined contributions – are submitted.
“Without diagnosis, you can’t treat”, he said.
The post Fossil fuel crisis offers chance to speed up energy transition, ministers say appeared first on Climate Home News.
Fossil fuel crisis offers chance to speed up energy transition, ministers say
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