CO2-removal News

Peer-reviewed Publications

Leal Filho et al. (2025): Is Carbon Dioxide Removal in the Arctic Region Really Feasible?

Walter Leal Filho, Johannes M. Luetz, Maria Alzira Pimenta Dinis, Julian David Hunt and Gustavo J. Nagy, IN: Resources, Environment and Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resenv.2026.100289

The Arctic region, warming at nearly four times the global average rate, is both an important carbon sink and a potential source of greenhouse gas emissions, especially due to thawing permafrost. Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is increasingly recognised as a necessary measure to support global efforts to reduce emissions. This article examines whether, and under what conditions, large-scale CDR deployment in the Arctic is practically feasible. It also discusses the challenges associated with it. The authors synthesise peer-reviewed evidence on the performance of key CDR approaches relevant to high-latitude environments, including nature-based solutions (NbS), e.g. peatland restoration, blue carbon protection and afforestation, as well as enhanced rock weathering (ERW), ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) and direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS). Across these approaches, the feasibility is constrained by permafrost dynamics, hydrology, ecological sensitivity, energy availability, monitoring and verification, and governance. Whereas some CDR methods offer potential climate benefits, most are characterised by considerable uncertainty and context-dependent trade-offs. None currently demonstrates unequivocal feasibility at scale under Arctic conditions.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Bluwstein (2026): The Trouble with Carbon Budgets, Offsets and Removals in Climate Litigation against States: The Case of KlimaSeniorinnen v. Switzerland at the ECtHR

Jevgeniy Bluwstein, IN: European Journal of International Law, https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/chaf068

The European Court of Human Rights’ (ECtHR) judgment in KlimaSeniorinnen v. Switzerland represents a critical juncture in climate litigation. By endorsing a national carbon budget in combination with an extraterritorial, consumption-based approach to state responsibility, while sidestepping the contentious issues of carbon offsets and removals, the author shows how the Court has created an implementation paradox. The judgment cannot be implemented in a meaningful way in a context where Switzerland’s fair-share carbon budget is already exhausted and negative, and where it is almost exhausted if we adopt a per capita approach. A negative fair-share carbon budget would entail an ‘emergency brake’, which no state can afford. A still remaining positive per capita carbon budget would require unprecedented emission reduction rates far beyond the temporality of economic lockdowns imposed during COVID-19. The judgment thus highlights the limits of climate litigation against states at a time of exhausted carbon budgets and an over-reliance on questionable carbon offsets and highly speculative carbon removal promises.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Reinhard & Planavsky (2026): The importance of radical transparency for responsible carbon dioxide removal

Christopher T. Reinhard and Noah J. Planavsky, IN: Nature Climate Change, https://doi.org/10.1038/s44168-025-00324-4

Carbon removal is a strongly debated component of societal efforts to address anthropogenic climate disruption, in part because efforts to scale carbon removal could delay or substitute for efforts aimed at mitigating anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Herbermann et al. (2026): Assessing BECCUS impacts on the SDGs through a value chain assessment for climate mitigation and energy transition

Joris Herbermann, Bob van der Zwaan and Drielli Peyerl, IN: Sustainable Production and Consumption, https://doi.org/10.1007/s43937-025-00121-4

As the urgency for climate mitigation intensifies, Bioenergy with Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (BECCUS) is emerging as a prominent negative emissions technology with significant potential to contribute to carbon removal efforts and sustainable energy systems. This work analyses whether the BECCUS value chain can support progress toward the 2030 Agenda by assessing the impacts across the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their 169 targets. By applying the Value Chain Assessment methodology, the authors assess the BECCUS value chain across five segments. Each segment is evaluated in terms of its positive or negative influence, as well as its direct or indirect impact, and in terms of its temporality. A new step is introduced to complement this assessment by identifying the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental (PESTLE) enablers for formulating policy recommendations.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Han et al. (2026): Solar-driven direct air capture to produce sustainable aviation fuel

Yide Han, Olajide Otitoju, Ariane D. N. Kamkeng, Meihong Wang, Hui Yan, Fisher Millard, Wenli Du and Feng Qian, IN: Nature Communications, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67977-x

Renewable energy-powered direct air capture with subsequent utilisation offers a sustainable decarbonisation strategy for a circular economy. Whereas current liquid-based capture technology relies on natural gas combustion for high-temperature calcination, restricting the transition to fully renewable operation. In this study, the authors show a 1 MtCO₂/year solar-driven process that adopts a hydrogen fluidised solar calciner with onsite catalytic conversion of CO₂ into sustainable aviation fuel.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Galeczka et al. (2026): Geochemical framework for CO₂ mineralization in coastal aquifers: Lessons from the Coda Terminal project, Iceland

Iwona Galeczka, Martin Voigt, Daniel Andres Duque Carrillo, Kjartan Marteinsson, Thomas Ratouis, Sandra Ósk Snæbjörnsdóttir, Fríða Jónsdóttir, Paula Fernandez-Acosta, Gunnar Hrafn Gunnarsson, Bergur Sigfússon, Jóhann Gunnarsson Robin et al., IN: International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2025.104565

Freshwater scarcity can limit the scalability of subsurface CO₂ mineralization projects which rely on dissolving CO₂ in water before injection into basaltic reservoirs. While ongoing Carbfix projects primarily use freshwater or process water such as geothermal condensate to dissolve CO₂, in the Coda Terminal project, in Straumsvík, SW Iceland, it is proposed to use seawater due to its availability. The storage reservoir contains a mix of freshwater, brackish, and saline groundwater, with measured conductivities ranging from ∼100 to ∼40,000 μS/cm. Water chemistry of the brackish and saline water indicates extensive water-rock interaction with depletion of Na, K, B, and Mg, and strong enrichment in Ca – essential for calcite precipitation, the dominant carbonate mineral in low-temperature basalt alteration.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Polteau et al. (2026): Well-connected basalt sequences as potential reservoirs for large-scale carbon sequestration revealed by strontium isotopes

Stéphane Polteau, P. Craig Smalley, Vani N. Devegowda, Ingar Johansen, John M. Millett, Marija P. Rosenqvist, Mohamed Mansour Abdelmalak and Sverre Planke, IN: Communications Earth & Environment, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-03020-7

Permanent storage of gigatons of carbon in basalt requires thick, uncompartmentalized sequences that allow lateral dissipation of CO₂ away from injection sites. Here the authors assess the presence of flow barriers by evaluating the variations in ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr patterns in pore water, a method used extensively in sedimentary successions. Present-day pore water ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr was measured from residual salts in core samples, while past water compositions were reconstructed from carbonate cements of different ages.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Banerjee et al. (2026): Carbon Sequestration Potentials and Land Management Approaches Along the Fringes of the Mangrove Forest in the Indian Sundarbans

Sinchan Banerjee, Abhisek Santra, Tuhin Bhadra, Roshan Das, Rupayan Sardar, Soumak Roy, Kasturi Mukherjee and Abinit Saha, IN: Springer Nature, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-00704-9_18

The Sundarbans, a complex coastal mangrove ecosystem, is important for climate change mitigation because it has a significant potential to sequester carbon. The study aims to evaluate the stored and potential threats to blue carbon stocks along the fringe areas of the Indian Sundarbans and to propose effective land management strategies to conserve and restore these stocks. This research used historical data, field measurements, remote sensing data, and different modeling techniques to quantify carbon stocks and project future scenarios.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Dong et al. (2026): Enhancing carbon sinks in China using a spatially-optimized forestation strategy

Yanli Dong, Zhen Yu, Thomas Pugh, Evgenios Agathokleous, Fangmin Zhang, Stephen Sitch, Weibin You, Wangya Han, Stefan Olin, Shirong Liu, Guoyi Zhou, Pedro Cabral and Pengsen Sun, IN: Nature Communications, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-68288-5

China plans expanding 49.5 million hectares of new forests by 2050 to strengthen carbon sequestration. However, estimates of the carbon benefits from this expansion rarely consider the effect of ‘forest edge’, where tree mortality increases under intensified stress from wind, drought, pests, and fire. Here the authors show that proximity to forest edges substantially reduces biomass carbon storage, and develop a spatial optimization strategy that prioritizes planting in areas that minimize edge effects.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Fakhraee & Planavsky (2026): Seaweed farms enhance alkalinity production and carbon capture

Mojtaba Fakhraee and Noah J. Planavsky, IN: Communications Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1038/s44458-025-00004-8

Seaweed aquaculture is increasingly being explored as a sustainable source of food and industrial processing feedstock, as well as a potential climate solution through carbon dioxide removal. In this study, the authors use a sediment diagenetic model to quantify how elevated organic carbon fluxes beneath seaweed farms enhance sedimentary alkalinity fluxes, contributing to long-term carbon dioxide sequestration.

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