Citizens' Climate Lobby: The challenge to remove carbon

In the November 2023 edition of Nation Geographic, staff writer Jason Teat offers a review of the race to remove carbon from Earth’s atmosphere. He observes that dozens of new technologies and processes are urgently being developed in the quest to keep global warming below 1.5°C. That’s the threshold considered vital to avoiding the worst consequences of climate change.

Will all these new technologies mature and be deployed? We don’t know, only time will tell. Certainly, we need them. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that we need to reduce CO2 emissions while also removing twelve billion metric tons of CO2 yearly from the atmosphere by midcentury. That’s only 25 years away!

Even if some of the new technologies are effective, there is a strong probability that they alone will be inadequate to meet this goal. We need to count on the hope of a sustained application of resources and public interest.

Here’s a review of some of the most promising strategies to date. They fall into two major categories—putting carbon back into the ground and putting carbon into the oceans. Some of these strategies have a high financial cost attached, others are less costly to implement.

Back-in-the-Ground strategies are designed to remove carbon from the atmosphere and safely store it in either the soil or deep underground for up to hundreds of years or, converting the carbon into useful energy. Many of these processes may take decades to operate at a significant scale.

Growing-Forests takes advantage of the fact that forests are a natural carbon sink. Protecting our existing woodlands and planting new trees will sequester carbon for centuries. Expect both low potential cost and low to moderate capacity. Proper forest management is an important consideration in this process.

Direct-Air-Capture is a process whereby atmospheric carbon, driven by giant fans, is exposed to liquids or solids which react with the air flow and capture the carbon. The CO2 is then stored underground. This is one of the most expensive carbon removal technologies. Yet, while effective locally, its global value is limited.

Mineralizing-Carbon is a straightforward natural strategy. Some rocks, such as basalt, naturally react with and bond to carbon in the atmosphere. Industrial-scale production would amplify and accelerate this bonding process using underground rock slabs or surface mining waste. This is an effective way to proceed due to its moderate cost and high capacity.

Into-the-Oceans strategies optimize the planet’s largest natural carbon sink. Oceans absorb more carbon from the atmosphere than they release. Oceanic carbon-removal methods aim to amplify as well as accelerate this natural ability. Some of these methods would store trapped carbon in the seafloor and deep waters for centuries.

Ocean-Fertilization has the potential to be both a low-cost and successful, high-capacity technique. Adding nutrients such as iron, phosphorus, and nitrogen to surface waters, increases phytoplankton’s ability to absorb CO2 through photosynthesis, thus boosting the lower rung of the food chain and expanding the carbon storage capacity of marine life.

Underwater-Farming is a unique and beneficial method. This strategy utilizes an already available resource, seaweed. This saltwater plant, via photosynthesis, readily absorbs carbon and sinks it deep within the sediment. As an added benefit, seaweed oxygenizes its ecosystem and contributes to shoreline health.

Electrifying-Seas is a scientifically sophisticated method which involves the passing of sea water through an electrical current. This process increases the pH level of water molecules thereby boosting their carbon absorbing capacity. There is some controversy however. If the electricity itself comes from a fossil fuel source, the overall carbon reduction could be less than desired. There may also be a negative consequence on the surrounding sea life.

This abbreviated review demonstrates that we have the potential to develop productive forms of CO2 management. The challenge, however, is to accomplish this within our target date. Many of these strategies have unknown trajectories and these innovations are just that, new and unknown. We can only hope that even more vital climate management innovations are on the rise.

If you would like to know more about Climate and wish to become involved in solutions, consider joining Citizens’ Climate Lobby at citizensclimatelobby.org.

— Dennis Icabone is a member of the Holland Area Citizens’ Climate Lobby. He resides in Holland.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Citizens' Climate Lobby: The challenge to remove carbon