CO2-removal News

Peer-reviewed Publications

Jordan et al. (2026): Increased yields for smallholder farmers from enhanced rock weathering

Jacob S Jordan, Tom M.D. Mills, Isha Jain, Dilip Patidar, Adrika Maji, Jonah Bernstein-Schalet, Shantanu Agarwal and Noah Planavsky, IN: CDR.Xiv, https://doi.org/10.70212/cdrxiv.2026502.v1

Meeting food demand in the Global South requires smallholder yield intensification. Conventional intensification using synthetic fertilizers embeds significant greenhouse gas emissions and imposes costs infeasible for resource-constrained farmers. The authors present results from 216 smallholder rice farmers across 42 villages in India.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Iwantoro et al. (2026): The Importance of Scale in the Future of Mangrove Blue Carbon Under Sea-Level Rise

A. P. Iwantoro, D. H. Urrego, D. Xie, A. P. Nicholas, K. A. Hapsari, J. A. Rodríguez-Rodríguez, J. C. Restrepo, J. Polanía, R. E. Aalto, L. F. Gómez Vargas and B. van Maanen, IN: Earth’s Future, https://doi.org/10.1029/2025EF006984

As efficient carbon sinks, mangrove forests are crucial for climate change mitigation. However, their vulnerability to sea-level rise (SLR) and human activities influencing sediment supply introduces significant uncertainty regarding their future carbon storage capacity. Given the complexity of mangrove landscapes, current projections may be limited in their ability to capture the broad range of potential responses. Here the authors investigate the distinct drivers of local- and landscape-scale changes in mangrove carbon accumulation under SLR and changing fluvial sediment supply, by developing a novel eco-carbon-morphodynamic model. The model incorporates interactions between hydro-morphodynamic processes, mangrove dynamics, and carbon dynamics while tracking changes in bed composition accounting for organic and inorganic fractions. Numerical experiments are conducted using a schematized tidal embayment to systematically explore the impacts of different SLR rates and sediment supplies.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Song et al. (2026): Environmental trade-offs of CO₂ mineralization cell by life cycle assessment

Xinchen Song, Yunpeng Wang, Wenchuan Jiang, Zaijie Wang et al., IN: Carbon Capture Science & Technology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccst.2026.100638

CO₂ mineralization cell (CMC) is a promising approach for permanent carbon mitigation, enabling CO₂ mineralization using carbide slag to produce high-purity carbonate products while converting mineralization-derived energy into electricity. However, its environmental performance lacks insufficiently quantified because of the complexity of its system boundary. In particular, as CO₂ is emitted during carbide production but consumed during subsequent mineralization, such systems may be intuitively regarded as nearly “zero-sum” or simply classified as a “CaCO₃ cycle”. Meanwhile, the contributions of CO₂ capture, transportation, and process energy consumption have not been consistently accounted for. In this study, a comprehensive and rigorous life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted to quantify the environmental trade-offs and resource requirements of the CMC system.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Jokubė et al. (2026): Biochar co-benefits are valued in the voluntary carbon market

Medilė Jokubė, Matti Hyyrynen, Sampo Pihlainen and Kari Hyytiäinen, IN: Communications Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1038/s44458-026-00096-w

Climate mitigation pathways towards global net-zero emissions targets commonly include large-scale deployment of carbon dioxide removals. Investment in novel carbon dioxide removal technologies is currently driven by the self-steering voluntary carbon market. Here the authors assess whether the upscaling of biochar carbon dioxide removals via voluntary carbon market can deliver sustainable development co-benefits. They use hedonic pricing to estimate how Sustainable Development Goal claims are reflected in biochar carbon credit prices in transactions up to 2024.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Combe et al. (2026): A comprehensive design framework for nature-based solutions projects focused on carbon dioxide removal: A systematic literature review of approaches, models and tools

Mathieu Combe, Tristan Briard, Fabien Harambat, Frédéric Segonds and Camille Jean, IN: Nature-Based Solutions, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbsj.2026.100333

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) has emerged as a crucial strategy for industries and nations worldwide to achieve carbon neutrality in the coming decades. Nature-based Solutions (NbS) such as mangrove restoration, wetland conservation or agroforestry systems present a promising approach to address climate change, biodiversity loss, and societal challenges, including carbon capture and storage. Yet, NbS standards offer useful project management guidance, but they often lack the detail needed for their design phase. Key questions such as site selection, species choice, implementation methods, and maintenance remain largely unanswered. This results in significant gaps in the practical design of NbS for CDR. The aim of this study was thus to identify NbS design methodologies alongside their associated approaches, models, and tools.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Hernández-León & Lichtfouse (2026): Ocean iron fertilization for carbon dioxide removal and climate change mitigation

Santiago Hernández-León and Eric Lichtfouse, IN: Environmental Chemistry Letters, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-026-01907-1

Just turning off the tap does not empty the bathtub, the bottom plug has to be opened. Similarly, just switching slowly from fossil to renewable energies will not stop in time the accumulation of huge amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Among these gases, carbon dioxide will impact adversely all society and the planet. Indeed, natural processes are able to store carbon in terrestrial and marine environments, yet at a too slow rate compared to carbon dioxide emissions, promoting carbon dioxide accumulation in the atmosphere. Therefore, there is an urgent need to accelerate natural carbon storage to maintain the planet temperature 1.5–2.0 °C above the pre-industrial era. Thus, negative emission technologies should be developed and tested quickly. While these interventions are still debated due to possible negative effects, humans will not have another choice to avoid unprecedented changes in the Earth system. Here, the authors discuss ocean iron fertilization as a feasible, large-scale technique to increase atmospheric CO₂ capture and sequester carbon in the deep sea from decades to thousands of years.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Pradhan et al. (2026): Species-specific allometric indicators and carbon sequestration potential in mixed agro-forestry plantation systems – Preprint

Adikant Pradhan, S. K. Nag, T. Chnadrakar, S. Malaiya, K. S. Keram, D. Kerketta, Amar Nath and Sweekruta Mohapatra,IN: Research Square, https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9790649/v1

Agroforestry systems are increasingly recognized as important nature-based solutions for climate change mitigation and ecosystem sustainability. Quantifying biomass accumulation and carbon sequestration capacity of plantation species is therefore critical for developing ecological indicators that assess ecosystem functioning. The present study evaluated species-specific growth dynamics and carbon sequestration potential of five plantation species-teak (Tectona grandis), acacia (Acacia spp.), eucalyptus (Eucalyptus spp.), cashew (Anacardium occidentale), and aonla (Phyllanthus emblica). Age–diameter relationships were modeled using power-law allometric equations, while biomass and carbon stocks were estimated using a generalized tropical tree biomass equation incorporating wood density, diameter at breast height (DBH), and tree height.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Abdalqadir et al. (2026): Experimental Evaluation of Three Clay Minerals for CO₂ Mineralisation: New Pathways for Carbon Sequestration

M. Abdalqadir, S. Rezaei Gomari and D. Hughes, IN: Earthdoc, https://doi.org/10.3997/2214-4609.2026101559

Mineral carbonation is increasingly recognised as a promising carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategy due to its ability to permanently immobilise CO₂ as stable carbonate minerals. While most research has focused on ultramafic rocks and alkaline industrial residues, clay minerals remain underexplored despite their abundance and reactive surface properties. This study experimentally evaluates three representative pure clay minerals (kaolinite, montmorillonite, and illite) as alternative feedstocks for CO₂ sequestration via mineral carbonation pathways.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Pirard & Möllersten (2026): Opposing Carbon Dioxide Removals and emissions reductions confuses mitigation policies – Preprint

Romain Pirard and Kenneth Möllersten, IN: Research Square

The authors analyse the relevance of Carbon Dioxide Removals (CDR) and emissions reductions (ER) categories for climate change mitigation, and assess associated methodologies used by carbon market crediting standards. The authors find that such a dichotomy is counter-productive for three reasons: (i) the economic dimensions to qualify CDR (intentionality, additionality, scope of projects) are overlooked in keystone definitions, which weakens the case for net zero objectives, (ii) methodologies by crediting standards are inconsistent and reveal the challenges for a practical distinction between CDR and ER, (iii) the distant prospects for net zero objectives and the vagueness of the concept of “residual emissions” challenge the relative urgency of acting on removals while large untapped potential remains for ER including via the development of new technologies.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Planavsky et al. (2026): Bridging carbon removal time lags in agricultural enhanced weathering via methane emission reduction

Noah J Planavsky, Beck J Woollen, Ella Milliken, Yoshiki Kanzaki, Mojtaba Fakhraee, David J. Beerling and Christopher T Reinhard, IN: Environmental Research Letters, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae74e7

Enhanced weathering (EW) shows promising signs of delivering durable carbon dioxide removal. This pathway may be able to rapidly scale by tying into existing farm infrastructure while providing clear co-benefits to growers. However, in many EW deployments, the shift in radiative forcing is offset from the investment in the deployment. This radiative forcing time lag complicates using the practice to offset carbon emissions. Here, the authors suggest that coupling EW with enhanced methane destruction provides a robust framework for carbon credits. They provide examples of how this framework could provide continuous and immediate offsets of anthropogenic emissions.

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