Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering

Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering (SPICE) was a United Kingdom government-funded climate engineering (geoengineering) research project that aimed to assess the feasibility of injecting particles into the stratosphere from a tethered balloon for the purposes of solar radiation management.

The project investigated the feasibility of one geoengineering technique: solar radiation management using stratospheric sulfur aerosols. This could produce the same type of global cooling effect as a large volcanic eruption – such as Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in June 1991 (but without any disruption from hot lava, ash or smoke, which would not be present). In the two years following that eruption the Earth cooled on average by about half a degree Celsius.

The SPICE project investigated whether or not these natural processes can be mimicked and, if so, with what effect. It was one of the first UK projects aimed at providing evidence-based knowledge about geoengineering technologies. The project itself did not carrying out geoengineering, but it investigated the feasibility of doing so. SPICE sought to shed light on some of the uncertainties surrounding this controversial subject, and encourage debate to help inform any future research and decision-making. Geoengineering is seen as being potentially useful in combating climate change but could also lead to unforeseen or unintended risks – for example on local weather systems, or discouraging people to take action to reduce carbon emissions.

The project was funded by a £1.6m grant by the EPSRC to run from October 2010 to March 2014.

In October 2011 a planned outdoor test (named 1km testbed at a 1/20 scale) was delayed for six months, as a result of controversy surrounding the research. The project oversight panel decided that more public engagement and better transparency was needed.

In May 2012 the first field test was cancelled altogether in agreement of all project partners. Dr. Matthew Watson, the project´s lead scientist, named two reasons for the cancellation: First, project scientists had submitted patents for similar technology, presenting a potentially significant conflict of interest. In addition to that, concerns about the lack of government regulation of such geoengineering projects were raised.

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