Month: April 2022

Nature-Carlson et al. (2022): Solar geoengineering could redistribute malaria risk in developing countries

Colin J. Carlson, Rita Colwell, Mohammad Sharif Hossain, Mohammed Mofizur Rahman, Alan Robock, Sadie J. Ryan, Mohammad Shafiul Alam, Christopher H. Trisos IN: Nat Commun 13, 2150 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29613-w

The authors project how geoengineering could impact malaria risk by comparing current transmission suitability and populations-at-risk under moderate and high greenhouse gas emissions scenarios (Representative Concentration Pathways 4.5 and 8.5) with and without geoengineering. They show that if geoengineering deployment cools the tropics, it could help protect high elevation populations in eastern Africa from malaria encroachment, but could increase transmission in lowland sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia.

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Online event: Mission Zero – Modular, Heat-Free, and Low-Cost DAC

Tue, May 10, 2022; 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM CEST

“This Is CDR” welcomes “Mission Zero” CEO Dr. Nicholas Chadwick to talk about the company’s modular, electrochemical, and low-cost DAC process, and plans for deployment and scale. Dr. Chadwick will speak about the company’s R&D process which focuses on constraint-based and outcome-driven research, leading to expedited timeframes to market for hardware, where traditionally DAC technologies have struggled to demonstrate or overcome scaling problems.

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Online event: Inherit CS – CDR via Anaerobic Digestion

Tue, May 3, 2022; 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM CEST by OpenAir

“This Is CDR” welcomes “Inherit Carbon Solutions” co-founders Kaja Voss and Mike Carpenter to talk about the company’s scalable CDR method of capture and geologic sequestration of biogenic CO2 from biogas, waste treatment, landfill, and other anaerobic digestion processes.

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CDR Horizons Ep.2: Wollastonite Enhanced Weathering

by OpenAir on Youtube (38 min)

For this second episode of “CDR Horizons” – a new OpenAir YouTube series – hosts Charles Yang and Harsh Sanghi welcome Dr. Rafael Santos from the University of Guelph (Canada). Dr. Santos shares details about his research into the CDR and productivity gain value of applying crushed wollastonite minerals to agricultural lands. 

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Nature-Boyd et al. (2022): Potential negative effects of ocean afforestation on offshore ecosystems

Philip W. Boyd, Lennart T. Bach, Catriona L. Hurd, Ellie Paine, John A. Raven, Veronica Tamsitt IN: Nat Ecol Evol (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01722-1

The authors present model simulations of ocean afforestation and link these to lessons from other examples of offshore dispersal, including rafting plastic debris, and discuss the ramifications for offshore ecosystems. They explore what additional metrics are required to assess the ecological implications of this proposed CDR.

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NASEM Report (2022): A Research Strategy for Ocean-based Carbon Dioxide Removal and Sequestration

Consensus Study report; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.2022, Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/26278, 308 pp.

NOW PRINTED!

This report builds on previous work from the National Academies to assess what is currently known about the benefits, risks, and potential for responsible scale-up of six specific ocean-based CDR strategies as identified by the sponsor, ClimateWorks Foundation. It describes the research needed to advance understanding of those approaches and address knowledge gaps. The resulting research agenda is meant to provide an improved and unbiased knowledge base for the public, stakeholders, and policymakers to make informed decisions on the next steps for ocean CDR, as part of a larger climate mitigation strategy; it is not meant to lock in or advocate for any particular approach.

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Webinar: Modeling CDR in Climate Policy: An ICRLP IAM Project

Wed, April 27, 2022; 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM CEST by Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy

In this upcoming webinar results of the two-year project will be presented to extend an open-source IAM, the Global Change Analysis Model (GCAM), to include other approaches to carbon removal and a wider variety of carbon removal-related policies. Members of the project team will provide an overview of GCAM-CDR, their new variant of GCAM, along with results from a number of research studies using the model.

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Xprize reveals the starting field carbon removal needs

by Robert Höglund on Illuminem

“287 of the 1133 teams were eligible to compete for the prize. 60 were shortlisted for the milestone award. Xprize had published a list with info on all competitors and the author can use it to draw insights into the CDR space.” Here is a brief summary of the competitors involved, their CDR methods and countries of origin.

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Jayakrishnan et al. (2022): Contrasting climate and carbon-cycle consequences of fossil-fuel use versus deforestation disturbance

KU Jayakrishnan, Govindasamy Bala, Long Cao, Ken Caldeira IN: Environmental Research Letters, accepted, doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac69fd

In this study, using a set of idealized global climate-carbon model simulations with equal amounts of CO2 emissions, the authors show that on century to millennial timescales the response of the climate system to fossil-fuel burning versus deforestation disturbance are vastly different. The authors performed two 1000-year simulations where they add abrupt emissions of about 600 PgC to the preindustrial state as a consequence of either fossil fuel use or deforestation disturbance with vegetation regrowth.

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