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PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Clim.
Sec. Carbon Dioxide Removal
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fclim.2024.1471313

Genomics -based approaches will may assist in the verification and accelerate responsible deployment of marine Carbon Dioxide Removal

Provisionally accepted
Sharon E. Hook Sharon E. Hook *Levente Bodrossy Levente Bodrossy Elizabeth Brewer Elizabeth Brewer Anusuya Willis Anusuya Willis
  • Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Canberra, Australia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Rapid development and deployment of marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) approaches will be required to prevent the worst consequences of climate change and meet Australia's national treaty obligations under the Paris agreement. However, approaches to monitor the efficacy and environmental safety of mCDR are not being developed with the same intensity as the technology. Verification will be required to convince a sometimes sceptical public and regulatory community of the overall benefit of mCDR as well as provide the regulatory community a basis for risk assessments that will be required for at scale deployments. In this perspective, we posit that genomics-based approaches can be used to assess demonstrate the efficacy of carbon sequestration and monitor for the possibility of unintended consequences. By adopting these granular approaches, it will be feasible to develop an evidence portfolio necessary to underpin assessments of the risks, benefits and trade-offs involved in responsible deployment of mCDR.

    Keywords: iron fertilisation, Ocean afforestation, ocean alkalinity enhancement, Electrochemical approaches to CDR, meta barcoding, Transcriptomics

    Received: 27 Jul 2024; Accepted: 08 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Hook, Bodrossy, Brewer and Willis. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Sharon E. Hook, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Canberra, Australia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.