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Marine carbon dioxide removal: Understanding the environmental risks and impacts

 

A graphic showing mCDR approaches
Image credit: PMEL/NOAA

Researcher Jennifer Jordan has published a policy memo in the upcoming issue of Journal of Science Policy and Governance. Jordan is a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy and a pre-doctoral fellow in the ForestGEO Ecosystems and Climate Lab at Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, VA. 

The publication entitled "Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal: NOAA Policy Priorities for Efficacy and Risk Reduction” outlines key policy priorities for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to guide the responsible development of marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) and help prevent unintended environmental consequences. Jordan worked on the article under the guidance of science communication professor K. L. Akerlof in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy.

As Jordan explains, mCDR is an emerging approach for mitigating climate change by significantly increasing the ocean’s uptake of atmospheric CO₂. NOAA, as the lead U.S. federal agency for ocean research, has played a central role in shaping a national strategy to explore mCDR over the past five years. However, current efforts have been disproportionately focused on advancing mCDR technologies while scientific understanding of their large-scale effectiveness and ecological impact remains limited. The potential consequences of deploying mCDR at scale, particularly in already stressed marine ecosystems, are uncertain. The ocean has already undergone profound and well-documented changes due to global warming over the last fifty years, including acidification, coral reef decline, ocean warming, melting ice sheets, sea level rise, deoxygenation, food web disruption, and more frequent extreme storms.

Jordan reviews key mCDR strategies, highlighting their potential benefits, risks, costs, and critical knowledge gaps. The article presents three top priorities for NOAA in steering future mCDR research and development, including expanding deep-sea research capacity, advancing mCDR environmental risk assessment and impact analysis, and establishing robust standards for mCDR measurement, monitoring, reporting, and verification (MMRV). By applying a data-driven approach that is environmentally sound, NOAA can help ensure that mCDR development proceeds responsibly and effectively.

Further reading: 

https://research.noaa.gov/noaa-and-carbon-to-sea-team-up-to-develop-data-management-guidelines-for-marine-carbon-dioxide-removal-projects/

https://science.house.gov/2024/9/joint-hearing-subcommittee-on-environment-subcommittee-on-energy-navigating-the-blue-frontier-evaluating-the-potential-of-marine-carbon-dioxide-removal-approaches

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