Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR)
- Can carbon dioxide removal save the climate?climateandcapitalism.com Can carbon dioxide removal save the climate? | Climate & Capitalism
Beyond wishful thinking: Can technology stop global heating by sucking CO2 out of the air?
cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/24097907
> archived (Wayback Machine) > > --- > > Well, maybe. If greenhouse gas emissions do not start coming down very soon, there will inevitably come a "point of no return" at which climate change enters a runaway feedback loop. If we haven't reached that point yet, then there is still a chance to bring carbon dioxide levels down, but it would need to happen through photosynthesis on a massive scale. > > [!](https://climatehealers.org/transform/the-climate-bathtub-model/)
- Geological CO₂ Storage: Massive Scale, Hidden Risks, Eternal Monitoringcleantechnica.com Geological CO₂ Storage: Massive Scale, Hidden Risks, Eternal Monitoring - CleanTechnica
Massive CO₂ sequestration faces harsh technical hurdles, high leakage risks, and endless monitoring costs governments may not be prepared to shoulder.
cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/23352534
> archived (Wayback Machine)
- news.mongabay.com Marine artificial upwelling, problematic climate solution slow to advance
Artificial upwelling is a geoengineering climate solution with a long history. The concept: mimic natural ocean upwelling by pumping cold, nutrient-rich seawater up from ocean depths via pipes to the surface. There it can cause a growth surge in CO2-absorbing plankton, nourishing aquaculture and tac...
> - Artificial upwelling is a form of geoengineering that aims to use pipes and pumps to channel cool, nutrient-rich water from the deep ocean to the surface. In doing so, it could fertilize surface waters, prompting the growth of plankton, which can then absorb and store large amounts of atmospheric carbon. > - Long considered a potential marine carbon dioxide removal (CDR) method, artificial upwelling has more recently been coupled with seaweed farming to potentially soak up even more atmospheric CO2. > - But technological challenges have plagued open-water upwelling experiments, while environmentalists worry that large-scale use could ultimately prove ineffective and ecologically harmful. > - Experts state that though upwelling could prove a viable solution to improve fisheries and protect coral reefs from marine heat waves, more research is needed. Considering the rapid current pace of climate change, it’s debatable as to whether implementation at scale could come in time to stave off dangerous warming.
archived (Wayback Machine)
- At this rate, carbon dioxide removal will never matter for the climate| The carbon dioxide removal industry is struggling to grow at pace needed to have a significant role in meeting climate targetswww.newscientist.com At this rate, carbon dioxide removal will never matter for the climate
The carbon dioxide removal industry is struggling to grow at the pace needed to have a significant role in meeting climate targets
archived (Wayback Machine)
- Climeworks’ carbon capture fails to cover its own emissionsheimildin.is Climeworks’ capture fails to cover its own emissions
The carbon capture company Climeworks only captures a fraction of the CO2 it promises its machines can capture. The company is failing to carbon offset the emissions resulting from its operations – which have grown rapidly in recent years.
archived (Wayback Machine)
- veganfta.com The Truth About Regenerative Animal Grazing
We are starting to have an impact. If we combine vegans and environmentalists, we may already have exceeded 20% of the human population, so our opinion begins to make a difference. Not a lot of…
- www.pik-potsdam.de Losing forest carbon stocks could put climate goals out of reach
27.03.2025 - In the past, intact forests absorbed 7.8 billion tonnes of CO₂ annually – about a fifth of all human emissions – but their carbon storage is increasingly at risk from climate change and human activities such as deforestation. A new study from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Res...
- www.theverge.com Trying to reverse climate change won’t save us, scientists warn
“Climate change comes with irreversible consequences.”
- UK would need forest ‘twice size of London’ to offset new airport expansion.www.carbonbrief.org Analysis: UK would need forest ‘twice size of London’ to offset new airport expansion - Carbon Brief
A forest twice the size of Greater London would need to be planted in the...
cross-posted from: https://ponder.cat/post/1442233
- Reactionary Decarbonization | On Carbon Capture and Techno-Utopianismspectrejournal.com Reactionary Decarbonization – Spectre Journal
Michael Levien challenges left arguments for CCS by pointing to its ecological and human costs. Why would the left support the fossil fuel industry?
cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/17553386
- www.spacedaily.com Reality check on technologies to remove carbon dioxide from the air
Boston MA (SPX) Nov 21, 2024 - In 2015, 195 nations plus the European Union signed the Paris Agreement and pledged to undertake plans designed to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Yet in 2023, the worl
> - Challenge 1: Scaling up > - Challenge 2: Energy requirement > - Challenge 3: Siting > - Challenge 4: Cost
> the world would need to generate billions of tonnes of CO2 credits at an affordable price. That prospect doesn't look likely. The largest DAC plant in operation today removes just 4,000 tonnes of CO2 per year, and the price to buy the company's carbon-removal credits on the market today is $1,500 per tonne.
> The researchers recognize that there is room for energy efficiency improvements in the future, but DAC units will always be subject to higher work requirements than CCS applied to power plant or industrial flue gases, and there is not a clear pathway to reducing work requirements much below the levels of current DAC technologies.
> "Given the high stakes of climate change, it is foolhardy to rely on DAC to be the hero that comes to our rescue."
- North Dakota landowners bring challenge of CO2 storage law to state Supreme Court
> The Northwest Landowners Association, the North Dakota Farm Bureau and others argue that state laws regulating the underground storage of carbon dioxide are unconstitutional.
> “This is really just a made-up work for taking property,” the Northwest Landowners said in a news release Thursday.
- www.latimes.com Half a pound of this powder can remove as much CO₂ from the air as a tree, scientists say
Berkeley chemists have created a reusable material that pulls carbon dioxide from the air and holds onto it until it can be stored.
- grist.org The nation's first commercial carbon sequestration plant is in Illinois. It leaks.
Citizens in Decatur, Illinois, are alarmed to hear there were two leaks in the CCS plant run by Archer-Daniel-Midlands.
- Why CO2 removal is not equal and opposite to reducing emissions - Carbon Briefwww.carbonbrief.org Guest post: Why CO2 removal is not equal and opposite to reducing emissions - Carbon Brief
An assumption that is commonly made when balancing a CO2 emission with a CO2 removal is that “one tonne in equals one tonne out” – that is, that the behaviour of the climate system in response to emissions and removals is “symmetrical”.
- Peatbogs Can Help Save the Planet 🌍
Since peat bogs collect and store large amounts of carbon, they are what is known as a “carbon sink.” So, one way to help the planet would be to protect these spaces, but unfortunately peat, and often the land, is valuable.
>"Worldwide, the remaining area of near natural peatland (over 3 million km2) sequesters 0.37 gigatonnes of CO2 a year. Peat soils contain more than 600 gigatonnes of carbon which represents up to 44% of all soil carbon, and exceeds the carbon stored in all other vegetation types including the world’s forests.“ IUCN
Peat is built up dead vegetation that(thanks to the wet and low-oxygen environments) does not break down, creating a sponge-like effect. They hold carbon, help control water flow(helping with both floods and droughts), and improve water quality through filtering.
If harvested on a small and sustainable scale, it can provide a firewood alternative, a plant substrate, a fertilizer, and more. However, the peatlands are drained on large scales, so it is important that people know the importance of these (often hated) areas.
More Info:
- https://youtu.be/MtsQPV49cAk
- https://youtu.be/fOYaUZdgCA0
- https://youtu.be/r-LY17qcQEk
- Startup is Building the World's Largest Ocean-Based Carbon Plant - and It's Scalableedition.cnn.com Can this ocean-based carbon plant help save the world? Some scientists are raising red flags | CNN
In Singapore, a new plant will turn CO2 from seawater and air into the same material as seashells, in a process that will also produce “green” hydrogen
An anonymous reader shared this report from CNN:
> On a slice of the ocean front in west Singapore, a startup is building a plant to turn carbon dioxide from air and seawater into the same material as seashells, in a process that will also produce "green" hydrogen — a much-hyped clean fuel.
> The cluster of low-slung buildings starting to take shape in Tuas will become the "world's largest" ocean-based carbon dioxide removal plant when completed later this year, according to Equatic, the startup behind it that was spun out of the University of California at Los Angeles. The idea is that the plant will pull water from the ocean, zap it with an electric current and run air through it to produce a series of chemical reactions to trap and store carbon dioxide as minerals, which can be put back in the sea or used on land... The $20 million facility will be fully operational by the end of the year and able to remove 3,650 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, said Edward Sanders, chief operating officer of Equatic, which has partnered with Singapore's National Water Agency to construct the plant. That amount is equivalent to taking roughly 870 average passenger cars off the road. The ambition is to scale up to 100,000 metric tons of CO2 removal a year by the end of 2026, and from there to millions of metric tons over the next few decades, Sanders told CNN. The plant can be replicated pretty much anywhere, he said, stacked up in modules "like lego blocks...."
> The upfront costs are high but the company says it plans to make money by selling carbon credits to polluters to offset their pollution, as well as selling the hydrogen produced during the process. Equatic has already signed a deal with Boeing to sell it 2,100 metric tons of hydrogen, which it plans to use to create green fuel, and to fund the removal of 62,000 metric tons of CO2.
There's other projects around the world attempting ocean-based carbon renewal, CNN notes. "Other projects include sprinkling iron particles into the ocean to stimulate CO2-absorbing phytoplankton, sinking seaweed into the depths to lock up carbon and spraying particles into marine clouds to reflect away some of the sun's energy."
> But carbon-removal projects are controversial, criticized for being expensive, unproven at scale and a distraction from policies to cut fossil fuels. And when they involve the oceans — complex ecosystems already under huge strain from global warming — criticisms can get even louder. There are "big knowledge gaps" when it comes to ocean geoengineering generally, said Jean-Pierre Gatusso, an ocean scientist at the Sorbonne University in France. "I am very concerned with the fact that science lags behind the industry," he told CNN.
Abstract credit: https://slashdot.org/story/427506
- Method-neutral carbon removal certification needed
📢📢📢 OpenAir joins 350+ companies and organizations from across the CDR sector to call for a method-neutral EU #CRCF 🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺 docs.google.com/document/d/1...
- www.politico.eu Europe is spending millions to trap carbon. Where will it go?
The EU is promising storage will eventually be available — but manufacturers in Europe’s poorer regions are worried it won’t be within reach.
quite a lot of captured CO2 can go into concrete. Maybe a cement (powder) producer is not able to tap into that method directly, but policy shifts will open it up. There are already several US states with low-embodied-carbon concrete laws creating markets for this purpose.
- Deep sea carbon sequestration with seaweed?noc.ac.uk Can seaweed help store CO2 on the ocean floor? | National Oceanography Centre
The National Oceanography Centre is an independent self-governing organisation – a charitable company limited by guarantee. NOC is funded by UK Research and Innovation to work on National Capability programmes and manages on its behalf the National Marine Equipment Pool (Europe’s largest fleet of au...
- OpenAir - This Is CDR Episode 88 - Cascade Climatelu.ma This Is CDR Ep88: Cascade Climate -- Field-Building for Open-System Climate Interventions · Zoom · Luma
OpenAir is excited to present This Is CDR, an online event series that explores the wide range of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solutions currently being…
- Biochar books
Any recommendations on books about biochar?
I recently read and enjoyed The Biochar Debate: Charcoal’s Potential to Reverse Climate Change and Build Soil Fertility by James Bruges. It’s a short read, slightly academic but not stuffy, and written with a sense of urgency. At the end he briefly talks about the CMF (Carbon Maintenance Fee) which I hadn’t heard of and is essentially a proposed strategy for financially incentivizing land-based carbon sequestration (reforestation, increasing soil carbon, etc). I would recommend this book to anyone interested in biochar or climate change.
What other biochar books do people like, and what do you like about them?
- 2024 Carbon Removal Challenge - student CDR innovation competition
entry details in the image text. A QR code is provided for a registration link
- Companies capture a lot of CO2. Most of it is going into new oil.
cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/3903718
> Excerpt: > > > That’s the theory, anyway. But today, the lion’s share of the CO2 captured from industrial processes doesn’t go back into the ground. Instead, 60 percent of it is used to extract more oil, in a controversial process known as “enhanced oil recovery.” > > > > “I think it’s a huge problem,” said Lorne Stockman, research co-director of the advocacy group Oil Change International. “The oil and gas industry has done a very good job of co-opting our climate and clean energy policy.” > > > > For over a decade, the U.S. government has been quietly funding the capture of CO2 that is ultimately used to drill more oil. Some experts and researchers argue that the climate impact is net positive: The oil will be drilled anyway, and the process can help companies learn how to capture CO2 more efficiently. But others say that the government shouldn’t be helping companies sustain more fossil fuel extraction.
- phys.org Researchers argue that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is not enough to combat climate change
According to a new paper in Oxford Open Climate Change, the strategies humanity must pursue to reduce climate change will have to include more than reducing greenhouse gases. This comes from an analysis of climate data led by researcher James Hansen.
- www.wri.org 6 Ways to Remove Carbon Pollution from the Atmosphere
To prevent the worst impacts of climate change, we'll need to remove carbon dioxide from the sky in addition to reducing emissions.
- CO₂ shortage: why can't we just pull carbon dioxide out of the air?theconversation.com CO₂ shortage: why can’t we just pull carbon dioxide out of the air?
Technology exists to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere but it has a big cost.
- CDR is a giant industry in its infancywww.latitudemedia.com The carbon removal industry is in the ‘figuring it out’ phase
It’s time for a progress report on this paradoxical period for the industry.
- www.nbcnews.com Africa’s first carbon-removal plant stokes questions about responsible climate solutions
A joint venture between Swiss company Climeworks and Kenya-based Great Carbon Valley has been billed as a springboard for creating a new, green economy in Africa.
- US Department of Energy analysis says coal carbon capture project would emit more greenhouse gases than it storesenergyandpolicy.org Department of Energy analysis says coal carbon capture project would emit more greenhouse gases than it stores
The Department of Energy says Project Tundra will emit more than it stores. The coal carbon capture project faces delays and increased costs
- Right now, could you prepare a slice of toast with zero embodied carbon emissions?
This is a bit tangential, but it is a well-framed commentary which applies when we think about CDR.
cross-posted from: https://aus.social/users/ajsadauskas/statuses/111062337668091472
> Right now, could you prepare a slice of toast with zero embodied carbon emissions? > > Since at least the 2000s, big polluters have tried to frame carbon emissions as an issue to be solved through the purchasing choices of individual consumers. > > Solving climate change, we've been told, is not a matter of public policy or infrastructure. Instead, it's about convincing individual consumers to reduce their "carbon footprint" (a term coined by BP: https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/23/big-oil-coined-carbon-footprints-to-blame-us-for-their-greed-keep-them-on-the-hook). > > Yet, right now, millions of people couldn't prepare a slice of toast without causing carbon emissions, even if they wanted to. > > In many low-density single-use-zoned suburbs, the only realistic option for getting to the store to get a loaf of bread is to drive. The power coming out of the mains includes energy from coal or gas. > > But. > > Even if they invested in solar panels, and an inverter, and a battery system, and only used an electric toaster, and baked the loaf themselves in an electric oven, and walked/cycled/drove an EV to the store to get flour and yeast, there are still embodied carbon emissions in that loaf of bread. > > Just think about the diesel powered trucks used to transport the grains and packaging to the flour factory, the energy used to power the milling equipment, and the diesel fuel used to transport that flour to the store. > > Basically, unless you go completely off grid and grow your own organic wheat, your zero emissions toast just ain't happening. > > And that's for the most basic of food products! > > Unless we get the infrastructure in place to move to a 100% renewables and storage grid, and use it to power fully electric freight rail and zero emissions passenger transport, pretty much all of our decarbonisation efforts are non-starters. > > This is fundamentally an infrastructure and public policy problem, not a problem of individual consumer choice. > > \#ClimateChange #urbanism #infrastructure #energy #grid #politics #power @green
- How big will the CDR effort become?marginalcarbon.substack.com How much carbon will we need to remove?
There is a big difference between the CDR needed to reach net zero, for neutralizing methane, and removals to bring back down temperatures after overshoot.
tldr several BILLION tons per year by 2050! Roughly equivalent to the total mass of all the cars in the world - every year.
- Microsoft Signs Giant Carbon Removal Deal To Sponge Up CO2 Using Limestone
In a deal that could be worth $200 million, Microsoft announced that it is purchasing 315,000 metric tons of carbon removal over a multi-year period from climate tech startup Heirloom Carbon. It's one of the biggest deals of its kind, reports The Wall Street Journal (paywalled). GeekWire reports:
> San Francisco-based Heirloom is harnessing a geologic approach to catching and holding carbon dioxide. Limestone naturally binds to carbon, but Heirloom's technology dramatically speeds up the process, cutting it from years to days. The startup operates the only U.S. facility permanently capturing carbon. Even more important than the volume of carbon to be removed is the deal's ability to unlock additional funding and investments to grow Heirloom's business and the sector more broadly.
> Microsoft previously invested in Heirloom through its $1 billion Climate Innovation Fund. The new deal represents a financially empowering "bankable agreement," said Heirloom CEO Shashank Samala. "Bankable agreements of this magnitude enable Heirloom to raise project finance for our rapid scale-up, fueling exponential growth like what we've seen in the renewable energy industry," Samala said in a statement. The guaranteed cash flow can facilitate financing needed to build Heirloom's next two commercial sites.
The deal is also "an example of the impact of the Biden administration's 2021 infrastructure bill," notes the report. "[T]he purchase was tied to Heirloom being selected by the U.S. Department of Energy as one of the nation's direct air capture (DAC) hubs. It will receive $600 million of matching funding thanks to the designation."
Credit: https://slashdot.org/story/418838
- Is there a list of carbon sequestration projects?
cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/2421501
> There seems to be a huge number of miscellaneous projects for a specific type of environmental restoration or some other activity that is specifically aimed at carbon sequestration. For example, seagrass restoration alone has a plethora(1,2,3). Is there a decent list of these projects? I found this cool list of CCS projects(4), but that’s different. > > If such a list exists, I have another question: Is there an objective way to compare their effectiveness? > > https://www.projectseagrass.org/ > > https://www.medseafoundation.org/index.php/en/portfolio-ita-2/a-sea-forest-to-save-the-planet/34 > > https://www.seegraswiesen.de/en/ > > https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_carbon_capture_and_storage_projects
