Sonar et al. (2026): Marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) in the Indian seas: current understanding, regional opportunities, and future directions
Sumit S. Sonar, Susmita Raulo, Suchismita Srichandan, Dhanya M. Lal, Sanjiba K. Baliarsingh, Alakes Samanta, Sudheer Joseph and T.M. Balakrishnan Nair, IN: Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11027-026-10311-7
As the global community confronts the escalating threat of climate change driven by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, carbon dioxide removal (CDR) has emerged as an essential strategy to complement emissions reductions, achieve net-zero goals, and plays an important role in removing legacy carbon emissions. Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal (mCDR), which influences the ocean’s natural carbon uptake processes, is gaining increasing attention for its vast sequestration potential. Despite the ocean absorbing a significant quantum of anthropogenic CO₂ emissions, rising emissions are outpacing its natural buffering capacity. This paper synthesizes current understanding of mCDR approaches, including biological (e.g., seaweed cultivation, ocean fertilization), chemical (e.g., ocean alkalinity enhancement), and physical (e.g., artificial upwelling and downwelling) techniques, and evaluates their applicability to the Indian Seas, a region characterized by unique monsoon-driven dynamics, stratified biogeochemistry, and large CO₂ outgassing.