Make all forms of 'geo-engineering' affecting the environment illegal
The Parliament petitions site records 160,631 signatures for this petition, which closed on 23 June 2025. The Government responded on 21 May 2025. MPs debated it in Westminster Hall on 23 June 2025.
The petition
The petition's creator is not named in the Petitions site's published record. Quoted in full from the UK Parliament petitions site.
Make all forms of 'geo-engineering' affecting the environment illegal
We want all forms of geo-engineering to be illegal in the UK. We do not want any use of technologies to intervene in the Earth's natural systems.
We think there is a potential for this to negatively impact humanity, flora and fauna in the future. It has previously been said that Greenhouse Gas Removal (GGR) is essential to meet climate targets. We believe that this, and all other forms of geo-engineering, should be made illegal in the UK.
The Government's response
The Government published its response on 21 May 2025; the petitions site lists the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero as responsible. Its summary:
Greenhouse Gas Removals are important for achieving net zero emissions. The Government is not in favour of using Solar Radiation Modification and has no plans for deployment.
The opening 383 words of the 706-word response:
Making Britain a clean energy superpower is one of the five missions of this Government — delivering clean power by 2030 and accelerating to net zero across the economy. The government’s priority is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from human activities and to adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change.
Geo-engineering is a term commonly used to refer to two types of technologies: Greenhouse Gas Removals (GGRs) and Solar Radiation Modification (SRM).
GGR technologies will be important for reaching net zero – balancing residual emissions from hard-to-decarbonise sectors, as recognised by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the UK’s independent Climate Change Committee. There are commercial scale GGR projects operating and being planned around the world.
GGR approaches fall broadly into two categories: 1) nature-based approaches, such as afforestation, and soil carbon sequestration, and 2) engineering-based approaches, such as Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage, Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage, carbon in building materials, biochar, and enhanced rock weathering. Nature-based methods can play an important role in removing and storing carbon dioxide at scale while delivering a range of additional environmental benefits such as biodiversity gain, air quality and soil health. However, due to factors such as land constraints and timescales for sequestration, the evidence demonstrates that nature-based GGRs must be complemented by engineered solutions to remove carbon dioxide at the speed and scale needed to meet our targets.
In February, the government announced an Independent Review to consider how GGRs can assist the UK in meeting our net zero targets out to 2050. The review is not centred on any particular project and will consider all GGRs, with a focus on engineered GGR approaches. The review’s findings will be published.
The government supports the deployment of high integrity removals, and has committed to ensuring that GGRs provide measurable and verifiable removals of CO2 from the atmosphere. The government is currently working with the British Standards Institution to develop GGR methodologies. Some GGR technologies may use sustainable biomass and relevant GGR standards will also include biomass sustainability criteria. These criteria will build on the existing sustainability criteria for biomass to ensure they are based on the latest evidence base. The government plan to consult on the details of the sustainability actions set out in the Biomass Strategy published in 2023.
Read the full response on the petitions site.
Where the signatures came from
Signatures came from 650 constituencies. Measured against each constituency's electorate at the 2024 general election, the most came from St Ives, with 8.3 signatures per 1,000 electors (584 in all).
158,644 of the signatures were from the UK and 1,987 from elsewhere, by the location signers gave.
| Constituency | Signatures | Electorate, July 2024 | Per 1,000 electors |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Ives | 584 | 69,978 | 8.3 |
| Caerfyrddin | 550 | 74,005 | 7.4 |
| Ceredigion Preseli | 542 | 75,690 | 7.2 |
| Glastonbury and Somerton | 524 | 73,268 | 7.2 |
| Upper Bann | 576 | 81,249 | 7.1 |
| North Cornwall | 514 | 76,741 | 6.7 |
| Camborne and Redruth | 486 | 74,342 | 6.5 |
| South Devon | 473 | 72,261 | 6.5 |
| South East Cornwall | 468 | 72,654 | 6.4 |
| Rossendale and Darwen | 468 | 74,440 | 6.3 |
| Region | Signatures |
|---|---|
| South East | 22,796 |
| North West | 19,988 |
| South West | 18,576 |
| East of England | 14,988 |
| London | 12,363 |
| Scotland | 11,994 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 11,929 |
| West Midlands | 11,917 |
| East Midlands | 10,634 |
| Wales | 10,103 |
| North East | 6,322 |
| Northern Ireland | 5,077 |
Debate in Parliament
MPs debated the petition in Westminster Hall on 23 June 2025. Read the debate in Hansard. House of Commons Library debate pack.
Source and receipt
- https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/701963.jsonUK Parliament Petitions API · read 2026-10-15 · SHA-256
5030471805be2056… - The petition on petition.parliament.uk
The petition's words are its creator's and the response is the Government's; this site quotes both and gives no view on either. Signature counts can still change while a petition is open. To report an error, send a correction request.