No evidence videos show ‘geoengineered’ skies

A video on Instagram, liked more than 15,000 times, claims to show the difference between natural skies and skies that have been altered artificially through geoengineering. 

The post, which has also been shared on Facebook, compares a number of different clips—one set which allegedly shows “natures way [sic]” and another which shows the “geoengineered way”. 

But there is no evidence that any of the clips actually show “geoengineering”. Instead, they appear to either show contrails (the white lines of water vapour that sometimes form behind planes) or different types of clouds.

We have written many times before about the “chemtrails” conspiracy theory, which claims that contrails are actually full of chemicals, deliberately being sprayed into the atmosphere as part of a government plot. 

While it is sometimes claimed that this is intended to poison the population, it is often commonly claimed that chemtrails are part of a secretive geoengineering plot designed to manipulate the weather. 

No evidence geoengineering projects are currently underway

Geoengineering is defined by the Met Office as the “deliberate large-scale manipulation of climate”, and describes “interventions and technologies which could be deployed to alter aspects of the global climate system to help tackle some aspects of global warming”. 

The Met Office highlights two key categories of technologies that could fall under the term geoengineering. The first is Greenhouse Gas Removal, which uses natural (such as planting trees) or artificial means to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. The second is Solar Radiation Modification (SRM), which is the use of technologies to reflect some of the Sun’s energy back into space in an effort to reduce the Earth’s temperature. 

SRM is often linked to chemtrail conspiracy theories, with claims that the “chemicals” allegedly spread from planes are creating clouds which deflect some of the Sun’s energy. 

There is no evidence to suggest SRM technologies are currently being used on a significant scale. 

As we have written before, it was confirmed in 2021 that Bill Gates had offered financial support to a research programme at Harvard University which proposed testing SRM technology in Sweden. The experiment was ultimately cancelled following opposition from indigenous and environmental groups in Sweden. 

The proposed use of the technology remains controversial, with some scientists—including experts at the Met Office—calling for further independent research to be conducted. A report published by the UN in February into the current state of SRM research said: “The expert panel considers that a near and mid-term large-scale SRM deployment is not currently warranted and would be unwise. This view may change if climate action remains insufficient.”

In an article about geoengineering published by US fact checkers Climate Feedback in 2021, Douglas MacMartin, a senior research associate at the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, described claims that geoengineering is underway as “pure fantasy”. 

He said: “The SRM for global warming mitigation would involve putting things like sulfate (which wouldn’t leave trails) much higher into the atmosphere than any current aircraft can fly. If that was being done, it would be trivially detectable from satellite observations. 

“We also know with 100% certainty that (a) the aircraft contrails they see aren’t geoengineering, and (b) no-one is doing geoengineering.” 

Contrails aren’t ‘chemtrails’ 

The white lines seen forming behind some planes (contrails) are often referred to as “chemtrails”, but in reality they do not contain any deliberately-sprayed chemicals. 

Instead, these contrails are long thin lines of cloud, formed when water vapour produced at high altitudes by aeroplane engines freezes as it’s released into the much colder air surrounding the plane.  

Depending on the humidity of the air, the resulting ice crystals either disappear from view after a few minutes, or remain as droplets or crystals, creating the white lines often seen in the sky.