Some argue that complementing climate change mitigation measures with solar radiation management (SRM) might prove a last resort to limit global warming to 1.5 °C. To make a socially responsible decision on whether to use SRM, it is important to consider also public opinion, across the globe and particularly in the Global South, which would face the greatest risks from both global warming and SRM. However, most research on public opinion about SRM stems from the Global North. We report findings from the first large-scale, cross-cultural study on the public opinion about SRM among the general public (N = 2,248) and students (N = 4,583) in 20 countries covering all inhabited continents, including five countries from the Global South and five ‘non-WEIRD’ (i.e. not Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, and Democratic) countries from the Global North. As public awareness of SRM is usually low, we provided participants with information on SRM, including key arguments in favour of and against SRM that appear in the scientific debate. On average, acceptability of SRM was significantly higher in the Global South than in the ‘non-WEIRD’ Global North, while acceptability in the ‘WEIRD’ Global North was in between. However, we found substantial variation within these clusters, especially in the ‘non-WEIRD’ Global North, suggesting that countries do not form homogenous clusters and should thus be considered individually. Moreover, the average participants’ views, while generally neither strong nor polarised, differed from some expert views in important ways, including that participants perceived SRM as only slightly effective in limiting global warming. Still, our data suggests overall a conditional, reluctant acceptance. That is, while on average, people think SRM would have mostly negative consequences, they may still be willing to tolerate it as a potential last resort to fight global warming, particularly if they think SRM has only minor negative (or even positive) impacts on humans and nature.

一些人认为，通过太阳辐射管理（SRM）来补充气候变化缓解措施可能是将全球变暖限制在 1.5°C 以内的最后手段。为了就是否使用 SRM 做出对社会负责的决定，还必须考虑全球范围内的公众舆论，特别是南半球国家的舆论，因为这些地区将面临全球变暖和 SRM 带来的最大风险。然而，大多数关于 SRM 的舆论研究都来自北半球国家。我们报告了第一项大规模跨文化研究的结果，该研究涉及覆盖所有有人居住的大洲的 20 个国家（包括来自全球的 5 个国家）的普通公众 ( N  = 2,248) 和学生 ( N  = 4,583) 对 SRM 的舆论。南方国家和来自北方的五个“非怪异”（即非西方、受教育、工业化、富裕和民主）国家。由于公众对 SRM 的认识通常较低，我们向参与者提供了有关 SRM 的信息，包括科学辩论中出现的支持和反对 SRM 的关键论点。平均而言，南半球国家对 SRM 的接受度明显高于“非 WEIRD”北半球国家，而“WEIRD”北半球国家对 SRM 的接受度则介于两者之间。然而，我们发现这些集群内存在很大差异，特别是在“非怪异”的全球北部，这表明各国并不形成同质集群，因此应单独考虑。此外，普通参与者的观点虽然总体上既不强烈也不两极分化，但在重要方面与一些专家的观点不同，包括参与者认为SRM在限制全球变暖方面仅略微有效。尽管如此，我们的数据表明总体上人们是有条件的、不情愿的接受。也就是说，虽然平均而言，人们认为 SRM 会产生大部分负面影响，但他们可能仍然愿意容忍它作为对抗全球变暖的潜在最后手段，特别是如果他们认为 SRM 对环境只有轻微的负面（甚至正面）影响。人类与自然。