Experts hold first solar geoengineering war game at Queen Mary University

Climate researchers and foreign-relations experts gathered at Queen Mary University of London on a September morning to participate in the first of a series of war games exploring solar radiation modification, WIRED reported. The simulation, titled Exploring Geopolitical Tipping Points and Climate Cooling Strategies, brought together dozens of scientists, military personnel, and former government officials to test how the world might respond to emerging technologies designed to reflect sunlight away from Earth.

Simulating the Risks of Global Cooling Technologies

Participants in the London meeting room sat at tables representing national governments, climate NGOs, indigenous groups, and tech companies. Climate researcher Dr. Colleen Golja provided technical advice during the sessions to help attendees make scientifically literate decisions as they navigated the hypothetical deployment of solar geoengineering. The technologies under scrutiny aim to reverse global warming by introducing substances like sulphur dioxide particles into the atmosphere to mimic the cooling impacts of large volcanic eruptions.

While the cooling effect of solar radiation modification is widely accepted by scientists, the planetary fallout remains uncertain and deeply unequal. Climate models project that such interventions would cause drying in sub-Saharan Africa and trigger more intense tropical storms in the Atlantic basin. Furthermore, the artificial cooling would last only as long as the continuous spraying of particles, meaning that a sudden cessation could cause global temperatures to surge back upward with unpredictable consequences.

Commercial Pressures and Accelerating Timelines

Solar radiation modification has rapidly shifted from a speculative niche of climate science into an active area of commercial exploration. A US-Israeli startup named Stardust Solutions raised 60 million dollars and released technical details regarding new inventions intended to allow humans to dial down global temperatures. SpaceX could serve as a delivery vehicle for such atmospheric interventions, drawing public support from Elon Musk, who wrote on X that space satellites and massive geoengineering will be needed to avoid a game over scenario.

Governance decisions regarding these technologies will arrive much sooner than most policymakers anticipate, according to former United Nations advisor Cynthia Scharf. She told WIRED that societies will face regulatory choices within the next decade rather than fifteen years from now.