We will all face the consequences of runaway climate change.
Unless, maybe, you live in one of Elon Musks new homes on Mars.
But for the rest of us poor souls, tackling global heating is pretty much the top priority.
The bad news is that we are not on track to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C.
A new report has also revealed that temperatures in Europe arerising twice as fastas the rest of the world.
We need to make drastic cuts in emissions.
We also need to pull out some of the carbon weve already put in.
This may conjure up visions of giant, air con-like machines sucking carbon out of the air.
But carbon removal comes in many forms.
Remove, an Amsterdam-based accelerator programme for carbon removalstartups, recently unveiled its latest cohort.
It consists of 20 early-stage companies championing everything frommicroalgae biorefineriestobiochar-based concrete.
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They will bury it underground.
Burying them could fix this problem.
It will plant new trees in their place.
He sees biomass burial working alongside other carbon removal technologies likeDirect Air Capture(DAC).
De Gruiter says the wooden piles can also act as a foundation for houses.
While biomass burial is largely unproven, its nevertheless attracting attention from climate tech investors.
Another budding company, Switzerland-based RECOAL, has developed a way to turn waste biomass into negative emission coal.
The company then plans to store this coal in permanent underground deposits.
Sealife, bro
The ocean is great at sequestering carbon.
It has alreadyabsorbed30% of the CO2 and 90% of excess heat emitted by human activities.
Organisms living in the sea itself do most of that work.
For instance, seagrass a pop in of seaweed can remove carbon30 times fasterthan a rainforest.
The UN once called it a secret weapon in the fight against global heating.
Severalprojectshave attempted to grow seagrass with varying degrees of success.
One problem is that farming by hand on the seafloor isnt that easy.
Thats why Ulysses Ecosystem Engineering is working on a way to plant and manage seagrass fields using cutting-edge robotics.
Details are scant at this point.
[We are] currently in stealth, the startup says on itsInstagram.
Another innovative approach has emerged in the UK.
London-based startup Blusink is trying to kill two birds with one stone.
The company has developed apple-sized carbon-sinking pebbles it calls blusinkies.
The company plans to spread piles of blusinkies on the seafloor.
Over time, the pebbles form so-called rhodolith beds.
These beds act as an ideal habitat for organisms like coralline algae, that suck up carbon.
But the little pebbles have another trick up their sleeve: theyre composed primarily of calcium oxide.
When in contact with this chemical compound, carbon dioxide mineralises into solid carbon.
The company plans to source calcium oxide as waste from the construction industry.
She estimates Blusink can remove carbon at a cost of 180 per ton.
To put that into perspective, DAC unicorn Climeworks currently removes carbon at a cost of1000-1300 per ton.
It creates environmental benefits well beyond carbon capture, said Ramirez.
(Ocean acidification contributes to coral bleaching.)
Key to these efforts is calcium oxides natural ability to solidify CO2.
Turning buildings into carbon sinks
UK-headquartered startup Calcin8 is tackling the problem the other way around.
Lime (or calcium oxide) is used for a variety of industrial processes, including making cement.
However, current methods for producing 1 ton of lime emit approximately 1 ton of CO2.
Founded in 2021, Calcin8 has developed a kiln that captures CO2 before it escapes into the air.
The International Energy Agency strongly supports carbon removal technologies to curb global heating.
But, most of these technologies remain untested on a large scale.
Story bySion Geschwindt
Sion is a freelance science and technology reporter, specialising in climate and energy.
