Tag: CDR

Peer-reviewed Publications

Mei et al. (2025): Unraveling differential carbon sequestration pathways among growth, mortality, and recruitment pools in natural larch-birch mixed forests in Northeast China

Xuesong Mei, Zhaogang Liu, Lingbo Dong, IN: Forest Ecology and Management, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2025.123021

Forest carbon sequestration processes are governed by complex interactions among multiple carbon pools. Elucidating the driving mechanisms of these processes is critical for optimizing carbon sequestration potential and mitigating global climate change. In this study, the authors systematically quantified the relative contributions of topographic, stand structural, soil physiochemical, and climatic factors to carbon sequestration across four functional pools: growth (GCS), recruitment (RCS), mortality (MCS), and total (TCS) carbon sequestration. Through stepwise regression analysis and structural equation modeling, they identified key determinants and their interactive effects on carbon sequestration processes based on 168 natural larch-birch mixed forests in northeast China that were collected from the seventh and eighth national forest resources inventories.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Kloesel et al. (2025): Carbon Dioxide Reduction and Removal toward Net-Zero: A Needed Change of Narrative

Katrina Kloesel, Vittoria Bolongaro, Paolo Gabrielli, Viola Becattini, Marco Mazzotti, IN: Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.5c00684

This work provides a simple physical framework to analyze the challenges related to achieving a net-zero carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission target, with a specific focus on CO₂ management solutions based on CO₂ capture and storage (CCS), biomass use with CCS, and direct air capture of CO₂ from the atmosphere with permanent storage. The framework is based on a simplified schematic of the Earth system, a simple mathematical model of such a system, and a graphical representation of it (called a scenario diagram), where the states of the Earth system can be mapped, from the net-positive world of today to any net-zero and net-negative future scenario.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Chlela & Selosse (2025): Life Cycle Assessment and System Integration of Carbon Dioxide Removal: Addressing Challenges in Environmental Evaluation and Model Representation

Sophie Chlela & Sandrine Selosse, IN: Discover Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1007/s40518-025-00271-y

This review identifies key methodological issues in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for CDR, including inconsistent system boundaries, functional unit variations, and limited treatment of permanence and co-benefits.
This report highlights methodologies that can improve LCA for CDR such as consequential approaches that remain underutilized despite their value for assessing deployment effects. It recommends expanding LCA frameworks to reflect full supply-chain impacts, using consistent metrics such as permanent CO₂ removed. It also addresses the integration of LCA with system modeling to account for regional resource constraints, infrastructure dependencies, and long-term storage risks. The review provides a comparative assessment of integrated assessment models while underlining key limitations due to their structural aspects.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Lamb et al. (2025): How are oil and gas firms integrating carbon dioxide removal into their climate strategies?

William F. Lamb, Sean Low, Leo-Michael Gordon, Maisa Mattila, IN: Energy Research & Social Science, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2025.104237

The authors question whether the oil and gas sector can be relied upon to take the lead in upscaling carbon dioxide removal (CDR). Analyzing the annual reports and sustainability documents published in 2024 by the 12 oil and gas firms that are part of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), the authors find that all firms maintain nominal net zero targets, but are vague on how they plan to scale CDR. Instead, CDR reporting is project-focused, anecdotal and combined piecemeal into an existing raft of initiatives and apparent investments into “climate solutions” consistent with the private sector turn towards environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure and self-regulation. Afforestation/reforestation is the most commonly mentioned CDR approach in the guise of “nature-based solutions”, often signalling linkages to developing world projects, offsets, and carbon forestry. Certain firms emphasise direct air capture and carbon storage (DACCS) and appear to seek a first-mover advantage in the context of reinforcing rather than diversifying fossil fuel extraction and production. The authors map this emerging integration of CDR onto the business and political strategies of oil and gas firms, and point to three possible “directions-of-travel” that firms might follow as discourse and policy on CDR develops.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Nature – Peng et al. (2025): Newly established forests dominated global carbon sequestration change induced by land cover conversions

Dailiang Peng, Bing Zhang, Shijun Zheng, Weimin Ju, Jing M. Chen, Philippe Ciais, Huadong Guo, Yuhao Pan, Le Yu, Yidi Xu, Bin Zhao, Jón Atli Benediktsson, Alfredo R. Huete, Zhou Shi, Yueming Hu, Liangyun Liu, Fang Chen, Miaogen Shen, Lei Huang & Xiaoyang Zhang, IN: Nature Communications, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61956-y

Land cover conversions (LCC) have substantially reshaped terrestrial carbon dynamics, yet their net impact on carbon sequestration remains uncertain. Here, the authors use the remote sensing-driven BEPS model and high-resolution HILDA+ data to quantify LCC-induced changes in net ecosystem productivity (NEP) from 1981 to 2019.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Liang et al. (2025): Response of terrestrial ecosystems carbon budget to large-scale direct CO₂ removal using Community Earth System Model

Lili Liang, Shijing Liang, Zhenzhong Zeng, Alan D. Ziegler, Yuntian Chen, Yiheng Tao, Yubin Jin, Dashan Wang, Tianhao Wu, Dongxiao Zhang, IN: The Innovation Geoscience, https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-geo.2025.100150

The Earth’s terrestrial ecosystem is a critical carbon reservoir at risk of transitioning from carbon sinks to sources amidst large-scale carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategies aimed at combating climate change. In this study, the authors use a fully coupled Earth system model to simulate atmospheric CO₂ concentrations dropping abruptly from current levels to the pre-industrial level.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Liu et al. (2025): Overshoot, potential air pollution co-benefits and food shortages

Li-Jing Liu, Qiao-Mei Liang, Felix Creutzig, Hua Tong, Yu-Xuan Xiao, Xiang-Yan Qian, Hao Wang, Si-Yi Wei, Xiao-Chen Yuan, Biying Yu, Lan-Cui Liu, Yi-Ming Wei, IN: Global Environmental Change, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2025.103040

Achieving the 1.5 °C target will entail a temporary overshoot, with peak temperatures potentially exceeding 1.7 °C before declining towards the end of the century. This study examines how different economic growth patterns, energy transitions, and non-CO₂ mitigation strategies influence this trajectory. The authors’ simulations reveal that achieving this target requires confining cumulative CO₂ emissions to 220–370 GtCO₂ by 2100, with a peak around 2060 of 530–650 GtCO₂.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Stuart-Smith et al. (2025): Implications of states’ dependence on carbon dioxide removal for achieving the Paris temperature goal

Rupert F. Stuart-Smith, Ewan White, Ruben Prütz, Joeri Rogelj, Thom Wetzer, Marianne Wood & Lavanya Rajamani, IN: Climate Policy, https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2025.2528775

Pathways consistent with the Paris long-term temperature goal span a wide range of emission reductions in coming years: the IPCC indicates 34–60% cuts in GHG emissions between 2019 and 2030. This range is a major source of policy uncertainty. A key determinant of the rate at which emissions must be reduced this decade is the extent to which CO₂ removal (CDR) is relied on later to withdraw emissions from the atmosphere. Here, the authors evaluate the dependence on CDR of 71 states, primarily in their near and long-term climate strategies submitted to the UNFCCC by May 2024, and the associated risks.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Sartzetakis et al. (2025): Temporal trade-offs in climate benefits from carbon dioxide removal—insights from wetland restoration and assessment metrics

Stavroula S. Sartzetakis, Tianyi Sun, Yangyang Xu, Emily A. Ury, Ilissa B. Ocko and Brian Buma, IN: Environmental Research Letters, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adeb9d

CDR measures may unintentionally increase emissions of other climate forcers. If emissions of potent short-lived climate forcers (like methane) are increased, the CDR mechanism could potentially worsen climate change in the near-term despite benefiting the climate in the long-term. This temporal trade-off can be easily overlooked when employing the standard climate metric used for assessments—carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) using a 100 year global warming potential (GWP)—because it solely conveys the long-term warming impacts of a pulse of emissions. A more sophisticated assessment method is needed to reveal potential temporal trade-offs in climate benefits—important information for effective decision making. In this study, the authors compare three climate impact assessment approaches of increasing complexity to evaluate temporal trade-offs in climate benefits from CDR strategies: (1) the standard CO₂e using GWP approach with both 20 and 100 year time horizons (GWP20 and GWP100, respectively, or dual-valued CO₂e); (2) a variation of GWP that considers the climate impact of continuous emissions over time (known as technology warming potential (TWP)); and (3) reduced complexity climate models. They use wetland restoration as a case study because studies have shown that it may remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while also increasing methane emissions.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Lin et al. (2025): Interactive effects of warming and drought on soil organic carbon sequestration and methane uptake in straw and biochar amended soils: Mechanisms and global implications

Jitong Lin, Guopeng Liang, Marcela Hernández, Zhiyu Xu, Yinghao Xue, Renhua Sun, Yuanfeng Sun, Lulu Dai, Yanhong Lou, Haojie Feng, Hui Wang, Quangang Yang, Hongjie Di, Hong Pan, Yuping Zhuge, IN: Chemical Engineering Journal, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2025.164817

The interactive effects of warming and drought on soil carbon-methane feedback in straw- versus biochar-amended agricultural systems need more comprehensive quantification, despite their critical implications for climate-smart soil management. By integrating controlled incubation experiments with a global meta-analysis (105 observations), the authors revealed that drought suppressed CH₄ uptake by 58.9% in carbon-amended soils through synergistic depletion of methanotrophic functional capacity (pmoA gene abundance) and microbial biomass carbon, while attenuating thermal sensitivity of methane uptake.

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