DOIA REQ 0030835 Letter.pdf

1 May 2026

Ref: DOIA-REQ-0030835-Spencer Jones

Spencer Jones
Email: fyi-request-34433-62ﬀ143f@requests.fyi.org.nz

Tēnā koe Spencer

Thank you for your email of 8 April 2026 to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE)
requesting, under the Oﬃcial Information Act 1982 (the Act), the fol owing information:

I request records from 1 January 2010 to present of any:
       1.     Research funding, grants, or contracts that include reference to:
       •      geoengineering
       •      Solar Radiation Management (SRM)
       •      Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB)
       •      aerosol-based climate intervention
       •      cloud seeding or cloud modiﬁcation
       2.     Funded projects involving:
       •      NIWA / Earth Sciences New Zealand
       •      universities
       •      international col aborations
       3.     Procurement records or Statements of Work referencing:
       •      atmospheric intervention
       •      aerosol injection
       •      cloud reﬂectivity or albedo modiﬁcation
       4.     Correspondence relating to consideration, approval, or rejection of such funding.

If no such funding or contracts exist, please conﬁrm that MBIE holds no records of funding or
procurement in this area.

Records of research funding by MBIE on the topics listed in parts one and two of your request are publicly
available on the MBIE website. The Who Got Funded webpage lists all the grants for scientiﬁc research
and associated activities funded by MBIE. MBIE is therefore refusing parts one and two your request
under section 18(d) of the Act, as the information requested is publicly available at the fol owing link:

•  Who Got Funded: https://www.mbie.govt.nz/science-and-technology/science-and-
innovation/funding-information-and-opportunities/investment-funds/who-got-funded

For further information about a particular project, we invite you to fol ow up with the contract holder.

We are unable to provide any records or correspondence in scope of parts three and four of your request.
Doing so necessitates a manual search through a large quantity of information to identify any such
records, and then to identify any associated correspondence, which would unreasonably interfere with
our operations. MBIE is therefore refusing part three and four of your request under section 18(f) of the
Act, as the information requested cannot be made available without substantial collation or research.

If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request or this response, or if you require any further assistance,
please contact [email address].

You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision. Information
about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802
602.

Nāku noa, nā

Alan Coulson
Manager, Contestable Investments
Science System Investment and Performance