Can we engineer our oceans to help deliver a safe, stable climate?


CANCELLED

Massive scale atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Removal is required if we are to keep globally averaged temperature increases to below 1.5 degrees or even 2.0 degrees by the end of the century. The ocean offers a range of potential ways to deliver Carbon Dioxide Removal, and its chemistry and size present the opportunity for large scale and essentially permanent removal. Removal of atmospheric CO2 into or via the ocean however presents challenges that range from technical and scientific to environmental and regulatory. In this talk I will present the view from a small industrial scale pilot plant we are building to strip CO2 from seawater. I will discuss the science and scientific challenges behind this approach and its application, and will explore where it fits within the landscape of possible Carbon Dioxide Removal solutions. I will finish by reflecting on opportunity and barriers to marine Carbon Dioxide Removal contributing at scale to our efforts to stabilise and potentially reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations and therefore global temperatures.