The scalability and carbon removal potential of ocean alkalinity enhancement
Published in Nature Communications (Under Review), 2024
Abstract
Most studies on economy-wide deep decarbonization find the need for widespread deployment of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) yet almost none of those studies pay much attention to real-world scalability of such novel technologies. We assess the scalability of ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE), a promising CDR approach, and find a global removal potential of 0.64–2.7 Gt CO₂ yr⁻¹ by 2100.
Most of that growth occurs late in the century. The scalability of the industry beyond mid-century depends heavily on early investment; key policy interventions, today, would include direct support for early projects that can help get the industry going. Looking to the geography of scaling, we find a tension between deployment strategies restricted only to a small number of countries highly motivated to pay the cost of this technology and the value, soon, of global deployment and scaling.
Status: Under Review at Nature Portfolio
License: CC BY 4.0
Subject Areas: Climate change mitigation, Marine chemistry
Recommended citation: Mack, C.J., Hanna, R., Faggiani-Dias, D., & Victor, D.G. "The Scalability and Carbon Removal Potential of Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement." Nature Communications (Under Review). Pre-print: doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7956805/v1
Download Paper