CO2-removal News

Peer-reviewed Publications

Dufour et al. (2025): Corporate net-zero: targets do not add up due to scope 2 and 3 emissions

Malin Dufour, Kenneth Möllersten, Liv Lundberg & Hanna Kuusela, IN: Climate Policy, https://doi.org/10.1080/17583004.2025.2589984

Frameworks for setting so-called science-based corporate net-zero targets require companies to counterbalance residual emissions across scopes 1−3 with durable carbon dioxide removal (CDR) in the net-zero target year, no later than 2050, and beyond. The authors find that if all companies worldwide were to adopt and achieve such targets, the level of CDR by 2050 would be several times higher than the remaining global emissions – which would be unrealistic and unsustainable. This outcome is due to significant double counting in corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories and is not aligned with the frameworks’ foundational science-based net emission pathways. The authors also present a case study of 303 EU companies with Science-Based Target Initiative net-zero committments, combined with an analysis of the EU Parliament’s Green Claims Directive proposal.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Muth et al. (2025): Direct In Situ Measurement of Alkalinity Export for Real-Time Enhanced Weathering MRV

Andrew Muth, Jonte Boysen, Pascal Michel, IN: CDRXiv Preprint, https://doi.org/10.70212/cdrxiv.2025456.v1

Accurate quantification of alkalinity export from the near-field zone remains a key bottleneck for monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) through Enhanced Weathering (EW). Here the authors validate the Everest Pulsar, a field-deployable alkalinity sensor that accumulates total alkalinity (TA) using a weak acid ion-exchange resin and transduces resin saturation into a digital, in situ measurement.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Mohan et al. (2025): Direct air capture with thermal energy storage: process design and electricity system impacts

Aniruddh Mohan, Vinay Konuru, Hongxi Luo and Jesse D Jenkins, IN: Journal of Energy Storage and Conversion (IOP), https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7655/ae24ac

Large scale deployment of Direct Air Capture (DAC) will lead to significant demand for heat and electricity. Supplying heat and electricity can result in significant emissions, if served by carbon intensive sources of energy. This is a particular concern because DAC is capital intensive and likely to be run at close to maximum output. This makes it challenging for DAC plants to be powered solely by cheap, intermittent, clean sources of power such as wind and solar. In this work, the authors undertake an interdisciplinary study combining process engineering with a detailed macro-energy system optimization model to evaluate the site and system-level costs of combining high temperature thermal energy storage (TES) with DAC.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Spilmont & Zardi (2025): Intertidal mussel–symbiont associations act as CO₂ sinks during daily emersion

Nicolas Spilmont; Gerardo I. Zardi, IN: Biology Letters, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2025.0498

Human activities have disrupted the global carbon cycle, reducing carbon dioxide (CO₂) uptake by tidal wetlands and submerged vegetation. This exacerbates climate challenges, including rising temperatures and ocean acidification. Coastal systems such as mangroves and seagrasses serve as key carbon sinks, promising for CO₂ removal (CDR). Growing attention is being given to bivalves, whose calcification and reef-building activities shape coastal carbon dynamics. Most studies reduce bivalve impacts to a balance between individual CO₂ emissions and the carbon stored in their shells and tissues, often overlooking species interactions—such as symbioses—that may modulate carbon fluxes. Here, the authors examined the mussel–symbiont holobiont using Mytilus edulis under emersion in a controlled chamber to quantify CO₂ exchange.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Cong et al. (2025): Long-term fate of photosynthetic carbon in desert plants: microbial necromass-driven pathways for soil carbon stabilization

Mengfei Cong, Zhihao Zhang, Yang Hu, Akash Tariq, Corina Graciano, Jordi Sardans, Weiqi Wang, Yanju Gao, Xinping Dong, Guangxing Zhao, Jingming Yan, Josep Peñuelas and Fanjiang Zeng, IN: New Phytologist, https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70768

As a core component of the terrestrial carbon (C) cycle, plant photosynthetic C assimilation regulates soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration. However, the allocation patterns of photosynthetic C across different soil layers in desert ecosystems remain unclear. Through in situ field ¹³CO₂ pulse labeling applied to Alhagi sparsifolia, a keystone desert species, the authors traced photosynthetic C dynamics over 360 d. This included vertical translocation from plant aboveground to belowground systems (0–30, 30–60, 60–100, and 100–200 cm depths) and subsequent partitioning into SOC, soil microbial biomass (phospholipid fatty acid), microbial necromass (amino sugars), and plant residue (lignin phenols).

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Fogaren et al. (2025): Winter mixing controls carbon sequestration by the biological pump in the subpolar North Atlantic

Kristen E. Fogaren, Hilary Ilana Palevsky, Meg F. Yoder, David Nicholson, Jose M. Cuevas and Lucy Wanzer, IN: ESS Open Archive, https://doi.org/10.22541/essoar.176460522.25112894/v1

Year-round, full water-column hydrodynamic and biogeochemical observations at the Ocean Observatories Initiative’s Irminger Sea Array provide a unique opportunity to examine drivers of ocean carbon sequestration via the biological carbon pump in a region with deep winter convection. The authors use daily-resolution oxygen and optical backscatter profiles to quantify carbon remineralization and large particles sinking throughout the water column from 2015 to 2022, during which deep winter convection ranged from 440-1430 dbar. The authors use calibrated oxygen time series to determine depth-resolved remineralization rates.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Jones et al. (2025): Evaluating the economic co-benefits of soil carbon sequestration: The test case of the UK

Philip Jones, Jacqueline Hannam and Chris Collins, IN: Land Use Policy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2025.107839

There are no known valuations for ecosystem service flows from soil carbon for any country or region in the world. In this paper the authors make a first attempt to generate such data. The study aims were: develop a framework for acquiring international data for application to a specific region (UK); determine whether data limitations render it insufficient to inform the design of policies to encourage more C sequestration. Total ESS flows from existing soil carbon stock were estimated at £ 1140/ha, excluding food and feed.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Kim et al. (2025): Passive direct air capture via evaporative carbonate crystallization

Dongha Kim, Shijie Liu, Tevin Devasagayam, Rui Kai Miao, Jiheon Kim, Hyeon Seok Lee, Yuxuan Gao, Kevin Golovin, Todd Scheidt and David Sinton, IN: Nature Chemical Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1038/s44286-025-00308-5

Direct air capture of CO₂ is needed to mitigate past emissions and those of persistent and difficult-to-abate sources. Current liquid-sorbent-based direct air capture relies on large-scale air handling and coupled sorbent–solid chemical loops, but the complexity and cost of this approach are barriers to scaling. Here the authors report a departure from established capture mechanisms in which ultraconcentrated KOH solutions (>9 M) achieve rapid CO₂-to-carbonate crystallization at the air interface. On the basis of this finding, the authors develop a carbonate crystallizer that leverages evaporation to concentrate KOH on a wicking substrate, enabling the stable, passive capture of atmospheric CO₂ directly into a solid form.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Dong et al. (2025): Warm and wet anomalies persist across the Pan-Arctic after carbon dioxide removal

Xiao Dong, Chao Min, Hao Luo, Jiangbo Jin and He Zhang, IN: Environmental Research Letters, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae24f2

The pan-Arctic region is experiencing rapid climate change under global warming, with Arctic Amplification occurring at a rate 2–3 times faster than the global average. This study investigates the climate responses in the Pan-Arctic region under carbon dioxide removal (CDR) scenarios using nine CMIP6 models from the Carbon Dioxide Removal Model Intercomparison Project (CDRMIP).

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Han et al. (2025): Energy-efficient direct air capture combining an impeller-based scrubber and anion exchange membrane electrolysis

Sunghyeon Han, Jongmin Jin, Hui Song and Jong-In Han, IN: Chemical Engineering Journal, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2025.171186

Direct air capture (DAC) is a technology developed to remove carbon dioxide (CO₂) directly from the atmosphere. One of the most critical barriers to the commercialization of DAC is the high energy consumption. To address this rather fundamental and critical challenge, this study aims to develop an energy-efficient DAC system that integrates an exceptionally capable impeller-based scrubber for CO₂ absorption with a high-performing electrochemical cell for absorbent regeneration. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were employed to optimize the impeller design, and the results were experimentally validated. For the electrochemical cell, a strategy to minimize resistance and energy consumption was proposed. The integration of the impeller-based scrubber with the electrochemical cell enabled stable operation of the continuous process.

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