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Terrestrial Cover Ideas Frontiers of CDR December 2020 Chairman Additional Contributors Ernest J. Moniz, Founder and CEO Alex Breckel, Associate Research Director Alex Kizer, Research Director Project Director Alex Maranville, Research Fellow Joseph S. Hezir, Managing Principal Emily Tucker, Research Fellow Natalie Volk, Communications Associate. Project Coordinator Michael Knotek, EFI Distinguished Associate Figure Design Jami Butler - jamibutler.com Project Leads Tim Bushman, Senior Analyst Emeritus Sam Savitz, Analyst About Energy Futures Initiative The Energy Futures Initiative advances technically-grounded solutions to climate change through evidence-based analysis, thought leadership, and coalition-building. Under the leadership of Ernest J. Moniz, the 13th U.S. Secretary of Energy, EFI conducts rigorous research to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy through innovation in technology, policy, and business models. EFI maintains editorial independence from its public and private sponsors. Suggested Citation: Energy Futures Initiative. “Uncharted Waters: Expanding the Options for Carbon Dioxide Removal in Coastal and Ocean Environments.” December 2020. Cover Photo: Underwater kelp forest. Photo by barbaraaaa from Getty Images. © 2020 Energy Futures Initiative This publication is available as a PDF on the Energy Futures Initiative website under a Creative Commons license that allows copying and distributing the publication, only in its entirety, as long as it is attributed to Energy Futures Initiative and used for noncommercial educational or public policy purposes. energyfuturesinitiative.org UNCHARTED WATERS| Page 2 About this Series In September 2019, EFI published Clearing the Air: A Federal RD&D Initiative and Management Plan for Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, a major report that outlined a 10-year, $11-billion research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) program to bring more carbon dioxide removal (CDR) approaches to deployment readiness.1 Several of these approaches, such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and direct air capture (DAC) are garnering increased funding support in Congress, but other pathways have received much less attention. Building on the work of the Clearing the Air report, EFI identified three CDR “frontiers” deserving of deeper evaluation: (1) technologically enhanced terrestrial and biological CDR; (2) marine CDR; and (3) carbon mineralization. The need for a broad portfolio of CDR options at Gt scale, compatible with the geography and geology of different regions of the U.S. and the world, underscores the need for increased investment in these relatively underexplored CDR “frontiers.” EFI organized six virtual workshops, involving over 100 scientific and technical experts, to address these pathways. The workshops identified the range of CDR approaches, their respective stages of development, and high-priority RD&D needs and opportunities (“big ideas”). This series of reports combines the findings of those workshops with analysis from EFI to provide policymakers with new insight into the potential benefits of these frontier CDR pathways and detail key priority research areas to promote their development. The report in this series are: → From the Ground Up: Cutting-Edge Approaches for Land-Based Carbon Dioxide Removal → Uncharted Waters: Expanding the Options for Carbon Dioxide Removal in Coastal and Ocean Environments → Rock Solid: Enhancing Mineralization for Large-Scale Carbon Management Series Sponsors This report and the Frontiers of CDR Series were produced with the generous support of the Linden Trust for Conservation and the ClimateWorks Foundation. ENERGY FUTURES INITIATIVE | Page 3 Expert Panel Brad Ack (Co-Chair) Charles Hopkinson Ocean Visions University of Georgia Greg Rau (Co-Chair) David Keller University of California, Santa Cruz GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Jess Adkins California Institute of Technology David Koweek Ocean Visions Ken Buesseler Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Colin McCormick Valence Strategic Wil Burns American University Lizzie McLeod The Nature Conservancy Elizabeth Canuel (Observer) Virginia Institute of Marine Science Kelly Oskvig National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, John Crusius and Medicine U.S. Geological Survey Phil Renforth Kevin Doran Heriot Watt University University of Colorado Boulder Susan Roberts (Observer) Matthew Eisaman National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Stony Brook University and Medicine David Emerson Celina Scott-Buechler Bigelow U.S. Senate Antonius Gagern Brian Von Herzen CEA Consulting Climate Foundation Dwight Gledhill (Observer) Marc von Keitz National Oceanic and Atmospheric Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy Administration Heather Willauer Charles H. Greene U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Cornell University The content of this report is not attributable to any of the workshop participants, and the view expressed here are EFI’s and do not reflect the views of the participants or their employers. UNCHARTED WATERS| Page 4 Table of Contents KeyFindingsandRecommendationsforPolicymakers 06 TheNeedforMarineCDR 09 The Role of Oceans in the Global Carbon Cycle ................................................................................09 Opportunity for Increasing Marine CDR................................................................................................12 EFI Marine CDR Expert Workshops.......................................................................................................12 RD&DPrioritiesforSpecificMarineCDRPathways 14 Biological Marine CDR Pathways...........................................................................................................14 Non-biological Marine CDR Pathways..................................................................................................23 New and Emerging Methods..................................................................................................................27 Co-benefitsofMarineCDR 29 Ecosystem Benefits..................................................................................................................................29 Valuable Products and Downstream Emissions Reductions Benefits............................................29 Synergies with Existing Ocean Industries.............................................................................................29 Cross-CuttingMarineCDRRD&DPriorities 30 ConsiderationforLarge-ScaleDeploymentofforMarineCDR 31 Creating an Effective Governance Framework....................................................................................31 Addressing Social and Public Acceptance Concerns...........................................................................35 Integration of Carbon Credits from Marine CDR into Carbon Markets............................................35 Implementation:Organization,Management,andFunding 37 Management Recommendations..........................................................................................................37 Federal Funding.........................................................................................................................................39 AppendixA:ClearingtheAirFundingLevelsforMarineCDRRD&DPortfolio 40 Appendix B: Current RD&D Initiatives in Marine CDR 42 Abbreviations 44 References 45 Figure References 48 ENERGY FUTURES INITIATIVE | Page 5 Key Findings and Recommendations for Policymakers Key Findings → Elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations have adversely affected the marine environment in three ways—ocean warming, ocean acidification and deoxygenation—all of which have had deleterious effects on the ocean’s living resources. The oceans have become 30 percent more acidic; 50 percent of tropical coral reef systems have been eliminated; and increased temperatures and altered ocean water mixing has adversely impacted marine habitats. → Marine CDR, the removal of CO2 from upper ocean waters, is a key element of the CDR portfolio and, in particular, is an essential complement to reducing atmospheric CO2 levels. The carbon cycle is tightly linked between the atmosphere and the oceans. Oceans have and continue to absorb about 25 percent of anthropogenic CO2 emissions on a net basis, much of which is temporarily stored in the upper layer of the ocean. Without corresponding enhanced marine CDR, reducing atmospheric CO2 levels will cause oceans to respire a portion of this absorbed CO2 back into the atmosphere. → Marine CDR pathways have significant potential to scale. Marine CDR pathways can capture and sequester CO2 at billion ton (Gt) scale in because of the sheer amount of available space in the ocean and the absence of land use complications. Additionally, there are numerous marine CDR pathways available. → Marine CDR pathways capture and store CO2 in ways that may avoid deleterious environmental impacts and in fact have significant co-benefits for ocean ecosystems and fisheries. Marine CDR pathways can convert absorbed CO2 in ways that ameliorate ocean acidification that has resulted from the oceans’ absorption of anthropogenic CO2. Other ecosystem benefits include improving fisheries yields and producing feedstocks for food, fuel, and durable products. → Questions of public acceptance are among the most critical challenges facing marine CDR at present. The oceans form a global commons, and large-scale experimentation in the oceans historically has often encountered social and political objections. Well-controlled and - documented research
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