Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain
Insufficient knowledge of fundamental ocean processes is impeding advancements in marine carbon dioxide removal, with some current strategies for commercialization deemed premature and misinformed.
A recent study conducted by researchers from the University of East Anglia (UEA), the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, and the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations evaluates the climate effectiveness of four nature-based methods utilizing marine biological processes.
These techniques include shellfish cultivation, seaweed farming, coastal blue carbon (restoring seagrass, saltmarsh, and mangrove forests), and rewilding to boost whale populations.
Published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the researchers suggest that while these activities offer valuable non-climatic benefits, they may not significantly contribute to carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and could lead to limited climate mitigation outcomes.
Achieving the goal of limiting warming to below 2°C necessitates both reducing emissions and implementing CDR strategies. Various approaches have been proposed to achieve billion-ton annual CO2 removal rates within the next few decades, requiring the development and scaling up of multiple techniques.
Nevertheless, the researchers caution against the frequent introduction of new methods without adequate oversight. This is especially relevant for ocean-based CDR, which is gaining traction as limitations of land-based methods become evident.
2024-06-06 02:00:02
Link from phys.org