Category: Media

Singapore to Build World’s Largest Facility to Boost Carbon-Removal Power of the Ocean

by Koh Ewe, Time, February 29, 2024

“The Equatic Process, a novel carbon removal technology and one of the best inventions of 2023, is getting a major scale-up, with the world’s largest ocean carbon dioxide removal facility set to be built in Singapore and operational by 2025—sparking optimism for what has been hailed as a potential game changer for global climate efforts after scientists agreed in 2022 that atmospheric carbon-removal technology will be necessary for the world to reach its climate goals.”

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Deep-ocean seaweed dumping for carbon sequestration: Questionable, risky, and not the best use of valuable biomass

by Thierry Chopin, Barry A. Costa-Pierce, Max Troell, Catriona L. Hurd, Mark John Costello, Steven Backman, Alejandro H. Buschmann, Russell Cuhel, Carlos M. Duarte, Fredrik Gröndahl, Kevin Heasman, Ricardo J. Haroun, Johan Johansen, Alexander Jueterbock, Mitchell Lench, Scott Lindell, Henrik Pavia, Aurora M. Ricart, Kristina S. Sundell, Charles Yarish, One Earth, February 08, 2024

“Deep-ocean seaweed dumping is not an ecological, economical, or ethical answer to climate-change mitigation via carbon “sequestration.” Without sound science and sufficient knowledge on impacts to these fragile ecosystems, it distracts from more rational and effective blue-carbon interventions. We call for a moratorium on sinking seaweeds to deep-ocean ecosystems until its efficacy is established, and there is robust, evidence-based assessment of its environmental, economic, and societal sustainability.”

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Climate action: Council and Parliament agree to establish an EU carbon removals certification framework

press release, Council of the EU, 20 February 2024

“Council and European Parliament negotiators reached a provisional political agreement today on a regulation to establish the first EU-level certification framework for for permanent carbon removals, carbon farming and carbon storage in products . The voluntary framework is intended to facilitate and speed up the deployment of high-quality carbon removal and soil emission reduction activities in the EU. Once entered into force, the regulation will be the first step towards introducing a comprehensive carbon removal and soil emission reduction framework in EU legislation and contribute to the EU’s ambitious goal of reaching climate neutrality by 2050, as set out in the European climate law.”

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Will Direct Air Capture Ever Be Affordable? The Rise of DAC 3.0

by  Jonte Boysen & Torben Schreiter on medium.com, February 07, 2024

“Direct Air Capture (DAC) has been a prominent topic in mainstream media for over two years now and has often been portrayed through a fairly narrow lens focusing mainly on two specific technologies: Climeworks’ solid sorbent and Carbon Engineering’s liquid solvent systems. This narrow focus, however, overlooks the broader, dynamic landscape of over 80 companies innovating in this field. This article aims to dispel some common, oftentimes overly pessimistic, misconceptions about DAC and its potential. We aim to offer a more optimistic yet grounded and comprehensive view on the topic and — hopefully — inspire new angles for looking at DAC.”

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EU unveils controversial climate target: what scientists think

by Katharine Sanderson, Carissa Wong on nature.com, February 06, 2024

“The European Commission has unveiled an ambitious climate target for 2040 — aiming to cut net greenhouse-gas emissions by 90% compared with 1990 levels. Researchers say that the goal, although admirable, risks relying too much on technologies such as carbon removal — which is largely unproven — rather than prioritizing the cutting of fossil-fuel use. Political shifts to the right, with many European Union member states electing governments that are unlikely to prioritize climate policy, might also make the goal difficult to achieve.”

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Exclusive: World’s largest carbon removal plant is about to open

by Corbin Hiar on eenews.net, February 06, 2024

“A startup backed by Bill Gates plans this week to begin operating what could be the largest carbon removal facility on the planet — a potentially remarkable achievement for a firm that’s only a year old. The southern Arkansas plant owned by Graphyte aims to use carbon-rich sawdust and other woody waste from nearby paper mills to create biomass bricks that can be stored underground for centuries. The company’s Loblolly facility — named after the pine tree species grown in the area — intends to start manufacturing the shoe-box-sized blocks no later than Friday and gradually scale up production, CEO Barclay Rogers told E&E News.”

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Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal: Issue Brief

by Isabella Corpora on carbonbusinesscouncil.org, January 23, 2024

“The Carbon Business Council published an issue brief about Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal (mCDR). Given its enormous scale, the ocean has an outsized potential role to play in advancing carbon removal to the level required to meet Paris Agreement targets. mCDR has the potential, when responsibly deployed and scaled, to offer significant climate benefits, while also contributing to sustainable economic development for coastal communities, maritime nations, and small island developing states. Additionally, certain mCDR approaches may yield co-benefits such as improvements to ocean health, via local mitigation of ocean acidification, to coastal ecosystems and commercial aquaculture.”

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Carbon Removal Prices To Continue Going Down According To Report From AlliedOffsets And Carbon Herald

by Vasil Velev on carbonherald.com, January 18, 2024

“2023 was a milestone year for carbon removal with the industry graduating from a field largely populated with startups, to one that has a growing number of scaleups, government and private investment in the billions and its own voice when it comes to influencing policy and how we tackle emissions in the atmosphere. With this in mind the AlliedOffsets team has been meticulously gathering data on hundreds of metrics throughout last year, looking for the trends and patterns defining this congregation of technologies that share the common goal of removing CO2.”

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