Experimentation with solar geoengineering will not be allowed in Mexico: SEMARNAT

Mexico’s Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT). Spanish to English translation.

Joint press release No. 3/23
Mexico City, January 13, 2023.

Mexico– The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), and the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) will carry out actions adhering to the precautionary principle to protect communities and environmental environments.

Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources | January 13, 2023 / Communique.

• Studies show negative impacts due to the release of these aerosols and that they cause meteorological imbalances.

• There is an international moratorium that remains in force against the deployment of geoengineering.
• There are plenty of studies that show the negative and unequal impacts associated with the release geoengineering aerosols, which cause meteorological imbalances such as winds and torrential rains, as well as droughts in areas of the tropics; in addition, these aerosols generate impacts on the thinning of the planet’s ozone layer.

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In order to prohibit and, where appropriate, stop experimentation practices with solar geoengineering in the country, the Government of Mexico, through the inter-institutional coordination between the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) and the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt), will carry out actions adhering to the precautionary principle to protect communities and environmental environments.

The Convention on Biological Diversity of the United Nations (UN), to which Mexico is a party to, in 2010 established a moratorium that remains in force, prohibits the deployment of geoengineering.

The opposition to these types of climate manipulations is based on the fact that there are currently no international agreements that address or supervise solar geoengineering activities, which represent a prifit scheme that benefits a minority [of interest groups] but a risky practice which alleges to help fix climate change

For this reason, Semarnat will be implementing a policy to prohibit these practices within Mexico’s national territory. The policy represents the first strategy worldwide that will serve as a guide and benchmark for other countries to strengthen geoengineering regulations.

Cease and desist

Under the precautionary principle and the policies established under the Montreal Protocol, which promotes the protection of the ozone layer and the fight against climate change, any large-scale practice with solar geoengineering in its territory will be stopped, which presume to be large-scale technologies, but still remain in development.

The CONACYT will coordinate with experts the review of the existing rigorous scientific research to expose the serious risks that solar geoengineering practices represent for the environment, people and their community environments.

In addition, relevant information is been prepared, and it will be made available to the general public on the topic of geoengineering, [a pseudoscience] that has been promoted in recent years by corporations. These corporations [and their investors] have been scaling up investments so that, without scientific support, these geoengineering practices can be perceived as alternative technologies to solve the impacts of climate change. .

Solar geoengineering practices seek to counteract the effects of climate change, through the emission of gases [and dust] chemicals into the atmosphere such as sulfur dioxide, aluminum sulfate, [aluminum, graphene] among others. This process induces the solar rays to be reflected back into space, thus avoiding the increase in temperature in a specific geographical area [thus ignoring the retention of heat production by the planet’s core – and industrial activity].

However, there are plenty of studies that show the negative and unequal impacts associated with the release of these aerosols, which cause meteorological imbalances such as winds and torrential rains, as well as droughts in areas of the tropics; in addition, these aerosols generate impacts on the thinning of the planet’s ozone layer.

Recently in the state of Baja California Sur, the startup Make Sunsets, carried out technical experiments of this type, launching weather balloons with sulfur dioxide, without prior warning and without the consent of the Government of Mexico and the surrounding communities.

On the blog of the Make Sunsets website, the company says that it does not know the results of the experiment, since the balloons were not monitored or recovered.

The Government of Mexico reiterates its inescapable commitment to the protection and well-being of the population against practices that generate risks to human and environmental security, working in a coordinated, rigorous and responsible manner for the well-being of the people of Mexico.

SEMARNAT & CONACYT. Joint press release No. 3/23 (Experimentation with solar geoengineering will not be allowed in Mexico).
Mexico City, January 13, 2023.