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Press Release: From Geoengineering The Ocean in Cornwall To A Vanishing Act
*Planetary Technologies Plans to Slip Out the Back Door*
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Press Release
From Geoengineering The Ocean in Cornwall To A Vanishing Act
*Planetary Technologies Plans to Slip Out the Back Door*
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
17 April 2025
In yet another failed geoengineering experiment, Canadian company Planetary Technologies has withdrawn from Cornwall’s St. Ives Bay, effectively abandoning their experimental attempt to capture carbon dioxide after the community raised serious concerns.
After public outcry and scrutiny from community members, the company that dumped magnesium hydroxide in the open ocean has ceased operations. Despite Planetary Technologies’ assurances of safety and claims of environmental benefits, local residents and environmental groups raised significant concerns about the potential risks to marine life and the lack of transparency.
It is alarming that this project was funded not just by the UK government but also by Elon Musk, in a growing trend of geoengineering projects being funded by Silicon Valley billionaires. These highly speculative techno-fixes raise serious human rights concerns, along with urgent questions about accountability and oversight — especially given their potential to harm ocean ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.
The St. Ives Bay incident adds to a growing list of failed or halted geoengineering projects worldwide like Arctic Ice Project, Alameda marine cloud brightening project, Harvard backed SCoPEx project and the shut down of the Running Tide company.
REACTION QUOTES FROM HANDS OFF MOTHER EARTH! (HOME) ALLIANCE MEMBERS AND ALLIES
Sue Sayer, MBE, Founder and Director, Seal Research Trust said:
“We’re celebrating common sense — for Cornwall, for seals, for safe seas, and for livelihoods. It’s a relief to see that community voices can still influence decision-making by asking the right questions and feeding them into licensing authorities to ensure due diligence is done. There’s a vital lesson here: if you want to do something in Cornwall, you need to do it properly — with communities involved from the very start to make sure the project is designed responsibly. David Attenborough once said, ‘the sea will save us’ — but geoengineering it with unknown consequences is a high-risk strategy. Planetary Technologies are ending the way they started: by failing to inform the Environment Agency or the public.”
Senara Wilson Hodges, Coordinator, Keep Our Seas Chemical Free said:
“The prospect of further chemical testing in St.Ives Bay has caused deep concern to our community for two years. We’re relieved that Planetary Technologies have ceased operations and we know this is because the community insisted on holding them to account. We asked important questions and demanded answers. We found out that the design of their experiment was shoddy, its financing was unethical and they were profoundly ignorant about the marine ecosystem of our bay and the community living around it.”
Mary Church, Geoengineering Campaign Manager, Center for International Environmental Law said:
“The scrapping of a highly controversial geoengineering trial in Cornwall represents a huge victory for the local community. Their tireless efforts ensured that Planetary Technologies’ experiment in St. Ives Bay faced the necessary scrutiny, revealing critical flaws in the process. Ocean alkalinity enhancement technology would not only entail massive, energy-intensive mining operations but also threaten essential marine ecosystems and jeopardize the oceans’ capacity to absorb carbon.
Manipulating our oceans is not the answer to the climate crisis. Marine geoengineering poses grave dangers to ocean ecosystems and human rights. States have legal obligations to urgently prioritize real solutions to the climate crisis, starting with a full, fast, fair, and funded fossil fuel phase-out.”
Coraina de la Plaza, Coordination, Hands Off Mother Earth! (HOME) Alliance said:
“The community of St.Ives Bay stood together against marine geoengineering and Planetary Technologies.,This is a monumental victory that belongs to the community and benefits the planet and future generations. Geoengineering approaches, including marine geoengineering, do nothing to address the root causes of the climate crisis, and they only distract from and delay real solutions. While there is still a lot to do to stop marine geoengineering, this great victory reflects the power of communities.”
—ENDS—
Additional Resources
- Stop Marine Geoengineering Experiments in Cornwall
- Secret marine geoengineering experiment off the coast of Cornwall sparks community resistance
- Geoengineering Monitoring Map
- ITV News Segment on Project Closure
About Hands Off Mother Earth! (HOME) Alliance
The Hands Off Mother Earth! (HOME) Alliance is a driving force in the fight against the growing threat of large-scale technological manipulation of the climate and biodiversity: geoengineering. We are an international civil society network of close to 200 organizations from over 45 different countries, from the Global South and the Global North. HOME was first launched as a global campaign in April 2010 at The World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in Cochabamba, Bolivia. In October 2018 we released the HOME Manifesto denouncing geoengineering with a demand for an immediate stop to all open-air experiments.
Follow us: Website| X | Blusky | LinkedIn | YouTube
For media enquiries please contact
Neha Gupta, Communications Coordinator
Press Release
From Geoengineering The Ocean in Cornwall To A Vanishing Act
*Planetary Technologies Plans to Slip Out the Back Door*
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
17 April 2025
In yet another failed geoengineering experiment, Canadian company Planetary Technologies has withdrawn from Cornwall’s St. Ives Bay, effectively abandoning their experimental attempt to capture carbon dioxide after the community raised serious concerns.
After public outcry and scrutiny from community members, the company that dumped magnesium hydroxide in the open ocean has ceased operations. Despite Planetary Technologies' assurances of safety and claims of environmental benefits, local residents and environmental groups raised significant concerns about the potential risks to marine life and the lack of transparency.
It is alarming that this project was funded not just by the UK government but also by Elon Musk, in a growing trend of geoengineering projects being funded by Silicon Valley billionaires. These highly speculative techno-fixes raise serious human rights concerns, along with urgent questions about accountability and oversight — especially given their potential to harm ocean ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.
The St. Ives Bay incident adds to a growing list of failed or halted geoengineering projects worldwide like Arctic Ice Project, Alameda marine cloud brightening project, Harvard backed SCoPEx project and the shut down of the Running Tide company.
REACTION QUOTES FROM HANDS OFF MOTHER EARTH! (HOME) ALLIANCE MEMBERS AND ALLIES
Sue Sayer, MBE, Founder and Director, Seal Research Trust said:
“We’re celebrating common sense — for Cornwall, for seals, for safe seas, and for livelihoods. It’s a relief to see that community voices can still influence decision-making by asking the right questions and feeding them into licensing authorities to ensure due diligence is done. There’s a vital lesson here: if you want to do something in Cornwall, you need to do it properly — with communities involved from the very start to make sure the project is designed responsibly. David Attenborough once said, ‘the sea will save us’ — but geoengineering it with unknown consequences is a high-risk strategy. Planetary Technologies are ending the way they started: by failing to inform the Environment Agency or the public.”
Senara Wilson Hodges, Coordinator, Keep Our Seas Chemical Free said:
“The prospect of further chemical testing in St.Ives Bay has caused deep concern to our community for two years. We're relieved that Planetary Technologies have ceased operations and we know this is because the community insisted on holding them to account. We asked important questions and demanded answers. We found out that the design of their experiment was shoddy, its financing was unethical and they were profoundly ignorant about the marine ecosystem of our bay and the community living around it.”
Mary Church, Geoengineering Campaign Manager, Center for International Environmental Law said:
“The scrapping of a highly controversial geoengineering trial in Cornwall represents a huge victory for the local community. Their tireless efforts ensured that Planetary Technologies’ experiment in St. Ives Bay faced the necessary scrutiny, revealing critical flaws in the process. Ocean alkalinity enhancement technology would not only entail massive, energy-intensive mining operations but also threaten essential marine ecosystems and jeopardize the oceans' capacity to absorb carbon.
Manipulating our oceans is not the answer to the climate crisis. Marine geoengineering poses grave dangers to ocean ecosystems and human rights. States have legal obligations to urgently prioritize real solutions to the climate crisis, starting with a full, fast, fair, and funded fossil fuel phase-out.”
Coraina de la Plaza, Coordination, Hands Off Mother Earth! (HOME) Alliance said:
“The community of St.Ives Bay stood together against marine geoengineering and Planetary Technologies.,This is a monumental victory that belongs to the community and benefits the planet and future generations. Geoengineering approaches, including marine geoengineering, do nothing to address the root causes of the climate crisis, and they only distract from and delay real solutions. While there is still a lot to do to stop marine geoengineering, this great victory reflects the power of communities.”
—ENDS—
Additional Resources
- Stop Marine Geoengineering Experiments in Cornwall
- Secret marine geoengineering experiment off the coast of Cornwall sparks community resistance
- Geoengineering Monitoring Map
- ITV News Segment on Project Closure
About Hands Off Mother Earth! (HOME) Alliance
The Hands Off Mother Earth! (HOME) Alliance is a driving force in the fight against the growing threat of large-scale technological manipulation of the climate and biodiversity: geoengineering. We are an international civil society network of close to 200 organizations from over 45 different countries, from the Global South and the Global North. HOME was first launched as a global campaign in April 2010 at The World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in Cochabamba, Bolivia. In October 2018 we released the HOME Manifesto denouncing geoengineering with a demand for an immediate stop to all open-air experiments.
Follow us: Website| X | Blusky | LinkedIn | YouTube
For media enquiries please contact
Neha Gupta, Communications Coordinator
