Tag: Carbon Dioxide Removal

Peer-reviewed Publications

Song et al. (2026): Observationally constrained global warming hysteresis under CO₂ removal

Se-Yong Song, Duo Chan and Sang-Wook Yeh, IN: Communications Earth & Environment, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03484-1

Stabilizing global warming under ongoing anthropogenic warming will likely require atmospheric carbon dioxide removal. However, the extent to which carbon dioxide removal can reverse past warming remains uncertain due to divergent responses across a limited set of models. Here, the authors develop a data-driven emulator based on an energy balance model with three layers that captures the nonlinear temperature response to forcing.

LINK

#
Peer-reviewed Publications

Hkaung et al. (2026): Enhanced rock weathering in acid mine drainage systems: Field evidence and passive treatment implications

Htut San Hkaung, Naito Yamashita, Nono Kimotsuki, Fugo Nakamura, Frances Chikanda, Ryosuke Kikuchi, Yoko Ohtomo, Tsubasa Otake and Tsutomu Sato, IN: Carbon Capture Science & Technology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clet.2026.101203

Despite basalt-based Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) showing promise in croplands, identifying alternative application sites is crucial for scaling carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and maximizing co-benefits. This study investigated acid mine drainage (AMD) systems as potential ERW sites, emphasizing the use of mining waste rock as reactive material.

LINK

#
Peer-reviewed Publications

Bishop et al. (2026): Cascading wood use into bioenergy with carbon capture and storage ensures continuous and enduring temperature reduction

George Bishop, Colm Duffy, Göran Berndes, Miguel Brandão, Annette Cowie, John R. Healey, Christiane Hennig, Kati Koponen, James Gaffey & David Styles, IN: Communications Earth & Environment, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03333-1

Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) is a key component of pathways to net zero, yet potential interactions with forest carbon dynamics, cascading wood strategies, and progressive decarbonisation and CCS deployment are poorly represented in assessments. The authors, using dynamic life cycle assessment, explore these factors for sawmill residue-derived BECCS value chains over long, yet flexible, time-horizons.

LINK

#
Peer-reviewed Publications

Jordan et al. (2026): Enhanced rock weathering for improved smallholder farmer welfare: An at-scale case study for rice agriculture in India

Jacob S Jordan, Tom MD Mills, Jonah Bernstein-Schalet, Rashmi Dikshit, Anikendra Das, Dilip Patidar, Robin Marlar Rajendran, Nilesh Kumar, Fiona Alder, Michael T Thorpe, Shantanu Agarwal, Laurence Y Yeung, Indra Sekhar Sen, Noah J Planavsky, David J Beerling, IN: CDRXiv

Smallholder farmers produce approximately one-third of the world’s food supply, but face persistent challenges from soil degradation, limited access to affordable inputs and growing climate variability. The authors utilize enhanced rock weathering (ERW) as a pathway to address these constraints while generating durable carbon dioxide removal (CDR). Commercial-scale deployments by Mati Carbon during the 2024 summer monsoon rice growing season in Chhattisgarh, India applied basalt on over 2,000 acres (810 ha) farmed by more than 600 smallholders.

LINK

#
Peer-reviewed Publications

Zacharias et al. (2026): Evaluating trace-metal responses to field deployment of enhanced rock weathering across agricultural and riparian soils – Preprint

Quinn Zacharias, Robert Rioux, Fengchao Sun, Wyatt Tagte, Joshua L. Warren, Peter A. Raymond, James E. Saiers, IN: CDRXiv, https://doi.org/10.70212/cdrxiv.2026463.v1

Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) is proposed for carbon dioxide removal, but responsible field deployment requires careful evaluation of potential trace-metal risks. The authors applied finely crushed, Fe–Al-rich basalt (20 t ha⁻¹) to the soil surface of hayfield and pasture soils in a working Vermont dairy agroecosystem and monitored an adjacent riparian corridor hydrologically connected to the treated fields. Agricultural surface soils (0–15 cm) were sampled twice before application (fall 2022 and spring 2023) and four times afterward (fall 2023; spring 2024; fall 2024; spring 2025), and riparian soils were sampled once before application and during four post-treatment campaigns. Forage biomass and tissue chemistry were measured at first cut in spring 2023 (pre-treatment) and spring 2024 (one year post-treatment). Extractable soil metals were quantified using the Modified Morgan extractant.

LINK

#
Peer-reviewed Publications

Motlaghzadeh & Schweizer (2026): The future of direct air capture in Canada: A systematic scenario-based exploration of barriers and possibilities

Kasra Motlaghzadeh & Vanessa Schweizer, IN: Energy Research & Social Science, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2026.104640

Integrated assessment models often overlook the interdependencies of socio-political factors shaping the deployment direct air capture (DAC), leading to projections that may be overly optimistic. To address this gap, the authors systematically explore the conditions under which DAC may (or not) emerge as a competitive carbon dioxide removal (CDR) option in Canada using the system-theoretical scenario method cross-impact balances (CIB), which accommodates both qualitative and quantitative scenario factors. Based on the literature, they identified 10 key factors affecting DAC deployment such as interjurisdictional regulations, public perception, and clean electricity availability. Their interrelationships were assessed by 27 experts to develop an expert-informed CIB model that identified 15 internally consistent scenarios.

LINK

#
Peer-reviewed Publications

Nature – Gan et al. (2026): Asymmetric response of day-to-day temperature variability to CO₂ forcing over Northern Hemisphere mid–high latitudes

Ruyu Gan, Kaiming Hu, Qi Liu, Gang Huang & Suqin Zhang, IN: npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-026-01372-1

Day-to-day temperature variability (DTDT) quantifies short-term temperature fluctuations and indicates weather-scale variability. Using idealized carbon dioxide removal (CDR) experiments, the authors assess the response asymmetry of DTDT over Northern Hemisphere mid-to-high latitudes under symmetric CO₂ ramp-up (RU) and ramp-down (RD) pathways. DTDT decreases with increasing CO₂ and remains strongly suppressed for about two decades after the CO₂ peak. Comparing CO₂ RU and RD periods with identical CO₂ concentrations, DTDT is systematically weaker during RD than during RU, indicating a pronounced response asymmetry to CO₂ forcing.

LINK

#
Peer-reviewed Publications

Campbell et al. (2026): Harnessing naturally occurring sodium carbonate and bicarbonate for gigatonne-scale carbon dioxide removal

James Campbell, Spyros Foteinis, Reinaldo Juan Lee Pereira, Mohamad Katish and Phil Renforth, IN: EarthArXiv, https://doi.org/10.31223/X5276Q

Ocean alkalinity enhancement is a promising carbon dioxide removal (CDR) approach, but scaling up to gigatonnes (Gt) of CO₂ per year will require safe, sustainable, and abundant alkaline feedstocks. Here, the authors propose the use of a relatively unexplored resource for OAE, namely naturally occurring sodium (bi)carbonates. The authors identified and mapped 109 such deposits globally, although quantitative resource information is available for only 16. Quantified deposits collectively contain >200 Gt of sodium (bi)carbonate-rich minerals and brines, dominated by trona (Na₂CO₃·NaHCO₃·2H₂O) and nahcolite (NaHCO₃) mainly concentrated in the USA, China, Turkey, and Kenya.

LINK

#
Peer-reviewed Publications

Schwinger et al. (2026): Assessing Earth system responses in deep mitigation scenarios with activity-driven simulation of carbon dioxide removal

Jörg Schwinger, Leon Merfort, Nico Bauer, Raffaele Bernadello, Momme Butenschön, Timothée Bourgeois, Matthew J. Gidden, Shraddha Gupta, Hanna Lee, Nadine Mengis, Yiannis Moustakis, Helene Muri, Lars Nieradzik, Daniele Peano, Julia Pongratz, Pascal Sauer, Etienne Tourigny and David Wårlind, IN: EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-833

Assessing Earth system responses arising from carbon dioxide removal (CDR) requires developing and simulating pairs of scenarios – a mitigation scenario with deployment of CDR and a corresponding no-CDR baseline. The latter describes a world where no CDR is deployed, such that net carbon emissions are higher and a given temperature target may be missed. While over the past years a rich literature on deep mitigation scenarios with CDR has been emerging, no-CDR baselines have mostly been explored in stylized Earth system model (ESM) experiments. In such simulations, a no-CDR baseline simply assumes that CDR is “switched off”, while socio-economic constraints are not considered. However, the deployment of CDR in deep mitigation scenarios, created by integrated assessment models (IAMs), is embedded in a consistent socio-economic description of plausible futures, and disallowing CDR may affect climate drivers due to changes in the energy system and in land-use dynamics. Particularly, when moving towards an activity-driven representation of CDR in emission-driven ESMs, where the activity that draws down CO₂ from the atmosphere is explicitly modelled, the creation of no-CDR baselines comes with challenges and trade-offs. Here, the authors conceptualize a framework for emission-driven ESM simulations of IAM scenarios that allows them to determine carbon-cycle and biogeophysical feedbacks of CDR deployment using no-CDR baselines.

LINK

#
Peer-reviewed Publications

Olasehinde et al. (2026): Socio-economic implications of deploying COP28 pledged negative emission technologies

Daniel O. Olasehinde, Olusola Bamisile, Caroline Acen, Chukwuebuka Ejiyi and Qi Huang, IN: Carbon Capture Science & Technology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccst.2026.100590

Achieving the Paris Agreement’s targets will inevitably impose financial burdens, but choosing the most economically viable path is critical. At COP28, countries pledged to triple renewable energy capacity to 11,000 GW and double energy efficiency gains to 4 % annually by 2030. The agriculture, forestry, and land use (AFOLU) sector also committed to reducing emissions and enhancing carbon dioxide removal (CDR). Using the En-ROADS modeling tool, this study evaluates five global scenarios combining varying degrees of fossil fuel reduction and CDR deployment: Ref (based on current COP28-aligned pledges), Ref++ (Ref with added fossil fuel taxes and carbon pricing), limCDR (Ref++ plus limited deployment of technological CDR up to 50 % of its potential), modCDR (Ref with moderate CDR deployment up to 65 % of potential, but no fossil fuel taxation), and allCDR (Ref with full utilization of technological CDR potential and no fossil fuel taxation). While population growth is held constant across all scenarios, economic outcomes diverge.

LINK

#