According to legal experts and federal agency officials, some existing federal laws and international agreements could apply to geoengineering research and deployment. However, some federal agencies have not yet assessed their authority to regulate geoengineering, and those that have done so have identified regulatory gaps. Although legal experts have identified some relevant international agreements and parties to two agreements have taken actions to address geoengineering, it is not certain whether and how other agreements would apply. Most scientific and legal experts GAO spoke with distinguished the governance of research from governance of deployment and noted that governance of geoengineering research with transboundary impacts, such as SRM approaches, should be addressed at the international level in a transparent manner and in consultation with the scientific community.
