With geoengineering being a hot topic in climate change discussions, Jonathan Oldfield and Marianna Poborezhskaya reviewed the history and current thinking from both Soviet and Russian perspectives.

During Soviet history, discussions mirrored other countries about human influence on climate change such as stratospheric sulfur aerosols to mitigate the effect. Even within the 1950s Soviet scientists appreciated the relationship between natural world and human activity. The Cosmism philosophical movement for example, with one of Russia’s most well-known scientists Vernadsky and his views on noosphere and other biosphere ideas. Budyko developed these ideas looking at energy and climate control, including Arctic ice cover and solar radiation.

For Budyko, a main feature of the Arctic region with respect to the broader climate change debate, was its ability to effect global shifts in climate regimes due to relatively small changes in the level of incoming solar radiation

Oldfield, J. D., & Poberezhskaya, M. (2023). Soviet and Russian perspectives on geoengineering and climate management. WIREs Climate Change, 14(4), e829. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.829

The then Soviet hydrometeorological service demonstrated evidence of Soviet scientists researching aerosol emissions such as CO2, earlier than other countries. Both Budyko and fellow scientist Izrael contributed to the promotion of the concept of human-influenced climate change including the first IPCC report in the 1990s.

Izrael and team continued to develop their research, conducting field experiments manipulating solar radiation spraying artificial aerosols onto small parts of the Earth’s surface in Russia. Following his death, Romanovskaya (Director of the Institute for Global Climate & Ecology) suggests that some CO2 reduction and management of solar radiation might be achieved by geoengineering, helping as a transition measure but also noting the risks to biodiversity, precipitation changes, ice cover and ozone concentrations. Additionally, ethical and governance concerns are noted in the more recent IPCC reports. So the jury is out but the need to include Russian scientists and their solar radiation research continues to be extremely important.

Oldfield, J. D., & Poberezhskaya, M. (2023). Soviet and Russian perspectives on geoengineering and climate management. WIREs Climate Change, 14(4), e829. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.829