Cryopower Unfrozen: No Carte Blanche under International Law for Sea Ice Geoengineering to Restore the Arctic Ocean

In response to the unprecedented environmental pressures on the Arctic marine cryosphere, sea ice geoengineering (SIGE) has recently emerged as a potential strategy to restore the Arctic marine environment. The restoration of the environment has been affirmed by international courts as part of states’ due diligence obligations or as a form of reparation deriving from state responsibility. Yet, technological interventions in the Arctic marine cryosphere can be perceived as efforts to expand exploitative uses of ocean spaces, which could result in profound socio-ecological consequences. Against this background, this article investigates whether SIGE could legally qualify as a measure to restore the Arctic marine environment. To do so, this article employs the theoretical lens of cryopolitics, which explores the governance and manipulation of frozen environments via various means. In the context of sea ice restoration, this article observes that international law operates as a conduit for cryopolitics to unfold icewards, providing the legal obligation for states to restore the Arctic marine cryosphere. At the same time, international law holds the potential to act as a resistive force against cryopolitics by constraining the boundless expansion of climate interventions, as it arguably disqualifies SIGE from being considered a restoration measure in its current state of development. Even with future technological advancements towards the feasibility of SIGE, this article showcases that the potential of geoengineering to restore the Arctic marine cryosphere is limited by international law, owing to scientific uncertainty regarding its impacts and the application of the precautionary approach.