Public attitude toward solar radiation modification: results of a two-scenario online survey on perception in four Asia–Pacific countries

Abstract

AbstractSolar geoengineering or solar radiation modification (SRM) is increasingly looming large as a potential response to human-induced climate change. However, it is deeply mired in controversies surrounding environmental risks and social governance challenges. Given the high stakes and uncertain characteristics of SRM, it is essential to understand public perception. However, previous studies on public perception have not explicitly utilized scenarios to frame SRM as an option in the future and mostly have been conducted in the Global North. Here, we present the results of an online survey conducted in Australia, India, Japan, and the Philippines in 2022. In our survey, we showed two different SRM scenarios in which SRM would play different roles in the policy response to the possibility of climate tipping points. Overall, respondents in India and the Philippines were more concerned about climate change and more supportive of SRM, and tended to feel that future scenarios with SRM deployment were more plausible than those in Japan and Australia. Nonetheless, public support of SRM was ambivalent, and many voiced concerns about the environmental and governance risks of SRM. Our findings suggest the significance of explicitly communicating the policy contexts in which SRM might be deployed in the future for capturing more nuanced understandings of SRM among the public.