威力彩玩法

In the waters of the German North and Baltic Seas, the options for marine carbon dioxide removal and geological storage are limited to just a few approaches, researchers from the CDRmare research mission of the German Marine Research Alliance (DAM).

The ocean covers 70 percent of the Earth, is the largest long-term sink for anthropogenic CO2 and can store much more carbon than both the atmosphere and terrestrial biosphere together, according to GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. However, are still in their infancy, and many have yet to be tested on a large scale.

The research team assessed ten options, six of which would theoretically have the potential to remove at least 10 million tonnes of CO2 annually (8% 鈥� 22% of projected hard-to-abate and residual emissions of Germany in 2045). However, of the six, only three appear feasible within Germany: production of a silicate-based alkaline solution and its distribution in shallow coastal waters along the North Sea; production of a lime-based alkaline solution and its distribution along shipping routes in the North Sea; and biomass from macroalgae farming for biomethane production combined with carbon storage in saline aquifers in the North Sea.

鈥淲e envision that marine carbon dioxide removal could provide a significant contribution to carbon removal and should be considered in the option portfolio for reaching net-zero in Germany,鈥� said the article.

The researchers took into account local marine conditions as well as where the required materials, infrastructure and energy for such large-scale operations would come from. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important to emphasise, however, that these outlines do not take into account the legal, political or economic frameworks, nor do they address whether the potential environmental impacts of targeted marine carbon removal are consistent with our societal values and ethical principles,鈥� said Nadine Mengis of GEOMAR.

Climate scientists say that negative emissions will be necessary to balance out unavoidable residual emissions, such as methane from livestock farming, and to bring global temperatures back down after a likely overshoot of the 1.5掳C limit set out in the Paris Agreement. This makes the issue a crucial topic for the coming decades, but technologies and markets already have to be established today.

The outgoing German government had worked on a long-term strategy for negative emissions, but it was not finalised. It had proposed introducing a 2060 target for net-negative greenhouse gas emissions as well as intermediate targets for technical carbon sinks. The issue has to be taken up by the incoming coalition, made up of the conservative CDU/CSU alliance and Social Democrats (SPD). The coalition has already said that it aims to introduce legislation to allow carbon capture and storage as well as utilisation (CCS/CCU), where some technologies are relevant for negative emissions as well.