Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal
The ocean is a natural ally in carbon dioxide removal, playing a key role in the Earth’s primary mechanism for controlling carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. Since the Industrial Revolution, the ocean has absorbed around thirty percent of all anthropogenic emission of carbon dioxide. Covering over seventy percent of Earth’s surface, the ocean represents the largest sink available for capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The natural ability to draw down and store carbon dioxide makes the ocean a potential game-changer in the climate crisis.
YCNCC’s Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal (mCDR) Initiative is studying a range approaches including direct removal of carbon dioxide from seawater and ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE). Both of these processes enable the ocean to pull additional carbon dioxide from the air and store it as bicarbonate ions – a natural form of carbon storage that is stable for around 10,000 years. While more research is needed into safety, efficacy, and monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV), these mCDR processes have massive climate mitigation potential.
