Publication - FOI/EIR release

Geoengineering documentation: EIR Review

Published: 13 April 2026
Directorate: Energy and Climate Change Directorate
Topic: Environment and climate change, Public sector
FOI reference: EIR/202600502914 Review of 202500498898
Date received: 22 January 2026
Date responded: 19 February 2026

Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.

Information requested

Original request 202500498898

1) Confirmation and authorisation
a) Confirm whether the Scottish Government is participating in, supporting, or complicit in any SRM/geoengineering or weather modification programme affecting Scotland.
b) If any such activity exists or has existed, identify who authorised it (office/role), the date of authorisation, the legal basis relied upon, and the oversight mechanism.

2) Records and communications
Please provide all records held (emails, briefings, meeting notes, minutes, correspondence, policy papers) from 1 January 2015 to present that relate to:
a) SRM/geoengineering/weather modification in, over, or affecting Scotland;
b) communications with the UK Government, MoD, DSIT, ARIA, the Met Office, the CAA, NATS, SEPA, local authorities, airports, or contractors;
c) any assessment of proposals to “reflect sunlight”, “dim the sun”, “cloud brightening”, “stratospheric aerosols”, “aerosol injection”, “climate cooling”, or “sunlight reduction”.

3) Permits, substances, and releases
a) Provide a list of any permits, licences, approvals, or consents (Scottish or UK-wide) that the Scottish Government is aware of which would allow atmospheric release of substances intended to alter sunlight intensity, temperature, weather, or climate.
b) Provide the substances/materials referenced (even if described as “non-toxic mineral dust”, “sea salt spray”, “sulphur dioxide”, etc.), along with any environmental risk assessment, monitoring plan, and consultation record.

4) Monitoring and environmental data
a) Provide any Scottish Government/SEPA monitoring data or commissioned reports relating to atmospheric deposition or unusual aerosol/particulate events over Scotland.
b) Provide any studies or internal analyses that discuss aluminium, barium, strontium, or other metals in soils/vegetation being linked (rightly or wrongly) to atmospheric deposition, and the Government’s position on those claims.

5) Public assurance and accountability
If the Scottish Government’s position is that no SRM/geoengineering is being deployed over Scotland, I require a clear statement to that effect, together with:
a) the basis on which that assurance is made (what bodies you rely on, and what checks exist), and
b) what mechanism exists for the public to verify and challenge any future proposals before any outdoor experiment or deployment occurs.

Response

I have now completed my review of our response to your request under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) for:

I have upheld the original response in relation to questions 1,3,4 and 5.

Therefore this is a formal notice, for questions 3,4 and 5 regulation 10(4)(a) applies.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in solar radiation modification activities affecting Scotland, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

I have concluded that the original response should be substituted for a different decision in relation to question 2.

As part of the review process I undertook further searches which resulted in the enclosed documents being identified which are within the scope of your request at question 2. I apologise for these documents not being identified through the response to your original request.

Please note that these searches identified correspondence where the content was the same. Where this is the case I have only provided one copy.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

This exception is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

An exception under regulation 11(1) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal information of which you are the data subject, and so it is subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

This exception is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

If you wish, you can request a copy of any personal data we hold about you by making a subject access request (SAR) under the General Data Protection Regulation by contacting us at: dpa@gov.scot

Some of the information you requested is available online. Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

These documents can be found at:

https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/uk-action-following-paris/

It may also be helpful to note that responses to requests are issued on behalf of the Scottish Government, not individual members of staff, and set out the review conclusions in terms of handling.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.