FOI release

FOI2026/00153: UKRI-funded solar geoengineering / climate cooling projects

This request was refused in part, so we didn't provide some of the information the requester asked for. This may include information where we can neither confirm nor deny that we hold it.

Case reference FOI2026/00153

Received 25 February 2026

Published 13 May 2026

Request

Request received 25th February 2026:

Please treat this as a request for environmental information under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. 
I am content for you to limit your searches to UKRI’s central grant/award databases and any standard descriptors or tags used for research topics. I am not asking anyone to manually review individual project files. 
1. Project list 
Please provide a table listing all UKRI-funded research projects, live or completed, with start dates from 1 January 2018onwards, where the primary subject matter is any of the following: 
• “solar radiation management” 
• “solar geoengineering” or “solar geo-engineering” 
• “stratospheric aerosol injection” 
• “marine cloud brightening” 
• “cirrus cloud thinning” 
• “albedo modification” in the atmosphere 
• “climate cooling” defined as deliberate reflection of incoming solar radiation 
2. Fields requested 
For each project identified, please provide the following fields (where held in your database): 
• project title 
• brief summary or abstract 
• lead institution 
• funding council (e.g. NERC, EPSRC, etc.) 
• total award value (£) 
• start date and end date 
If no projects meet these criteria, please say so explicitly. 

 

We directed you to the UKRI Disclosure Log and four previous responses in the scope of your request: FOI2025/01009, EIR2025/00418, FOI2025/00606 and FOI2025/00494. You later clarified on 25th February: 

 

Thank you for your email and for the references to FOI2025/01009, EIR2025/00418, FOI2025/00606 and FOI2025/00494 on your disclosure log. 
I would like to proceed with my request, and I am happy for you to meet it in the most efficient way by: 
1. Confirming that the projects and funding identified in those four previous responses together constitute the full set of UKRI-funded research projects since 2015 whose primary subject matter is solar geoengineering / solar radiation management / climate cooling (including stratospheric aerosol injection, marine cloud brightening and cirrus cloud thinning); and 
2. Confirming, under FOIA/EIR, that UKRI has not funded any practical or field-based geoengineering projects or outdoor experiments, and that all UKRI-funded work in this area has been limited to modelling, feasibility studies, or other non-deployment research. 
If that is the case, a short written confirmation referencing those FOI/EIR numbers will fully answer my request. 
 

Response

Response sent 25th March 2026.

Full details of this response are provided in the attached document.

Documents

This is UK Research and Innovation's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.

You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.