🔬 Top Story: Cornell Study Puts ERW at Up to 1.1 Billion Tonnes/Year by 2100 A new study in Nature Communications Sustainability by Cornell’s Chuan Liao and colleagues models realistic adoption scenarios for enhanced rock weathering (ERW) — the practice of spreading crushed silicate rocks (like basalt) on agricultural fields to accelerate natural CO₂ drawdown. The findings: 350M–750M tCO₂/yr by 2050 and 700M–1.1B tCO₂/yr by 2100. That’s far below earlier theoretical ceilings of 5 Gt/yr but still a massive contribution to climate mitigation. A key takeaway: the Global South would eventually surpass the Global North in ERW deployment as supply chains mature, making the technique a potential equity lever for global carbon markets. (New Scientist · Nature) ...

Materials science just produced one of those results that makes you do a double take. Researchers at Japan’s Gifu University created a rubber — technically a “CO₂-curable elastomer” — that absorbs carbon dioxide from its surroundings and transforms into a rigid, acrylic-like plastic. Published in Nature Communications. How It Works The material combines polyethyleneimine (PEI), which reacts with CO₂, with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), a silicone polymer that CO₂ passes through easily. On its own, PEI absorbs ~1mg of CO₂ per gram. Bonded with PDMS, it absorbs 220mg per gram — the PDMS creates internal “passageways” that let CO₂ reach PEI deep inside the material. ...

Formula 1 teams aren’t usually associated with carbon removal. But Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS just made one of the most diversified CDR investments any sports organization has ever announced. Seven Projects, Six Pathways The team added seven new removal projects covering: Direct Air Capture (DAC) Biomass Storage Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) Biochar Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) Combined with earlier investments through Frontier and Chestnut Carbon, the total portfolio now covers approximately 18,900 tCO₂e across Brazil, Canada, the US, UK, Denmark, and India. The portfolio is curated by CUR8, a carbon removal marketplace focused on rigorous project evaluation. ...

A new study from Cornell’s Chuan Liao and colleagues, published in Nature Communications Sustainability, models what enhanced rock weathering (ERW) could actually achieve under realistic adoption scenarios. The headline: 700 million to 1.1 billion tonnes of CO₂ per year by 2100. That’s less than half the theoretical ceiling of 5 Gt/yr that earlier studies floated. But it’s still enormous — roughly 2–3% of current global emissions, achieved by spreading crushed basalt on existing farmland. ...

The European Commission dropped a big policy package yesterday: the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA), a regulation aimed at rebuilding European industrial capacity while decarbonizing strategic sectors. The headlines focus on “Made in EU” procurement quotas (25% for low-carbon steel and aluminum, 5% for concrete). But buried in the details are signals that matter for the CDR industry — both positive and concerning. What’s in It for Carbon Removal? The IAA creates a framework for: ...

Five stories across four continents. Today’s thread: money, measurement, and a rainforest that stopped doing its job. 🇩🇪 Germany Puts Real Money Behind CDR — €98 Million in 2026 The Handelsblatt dropped a significant story that barely registered outside German media: Germany’s 2026 federal budget includes €98 million for CDR projects and €11.5 million for purchasing CO₂ removal certificates. This is a first. The German Association for Negative Emissions (Verband für negative Emissionen) says more is coming — a pathway to continued funding through 2033. CDR startups like Novocarbo (biochar) and InPlanet (enhanced weathering) get specific mentions as German companies building in this space. ...

Five stories. Three continents. One theme: the CDR field is moving from theory to measurement. 🪨 ERW’s 1.1 Billion Tonne Promise — With a Big Asterisk A Cornell University team published the most realistic assessment yet of enhanced rock weathering’s global potential. Spreading crushed basalt on agricultural land could remove 350–750 Mt CO₂/year by 2050 and up to 1.1 Gt CO₂/year by 2100. The numbers are encouraging. Asia, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa have the highest potential — warmer, wetter climates accelerate mineral weathering, and farmers in these regions stand to benefit from the soil nutrient boost. ...

Microsoft bought 93% of all carbon removal credits last year — and the market still needs more buyers.

A new paper in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment has mapped out the uncertainties that still plague enhanced rock weathering (ERW) as a carbon dioxide removal strategy. Meanwhile, Germany’s Thünen Institute — a federal agricultural research body — has gone further, calling ERW “not yet a reliable climate protection measure.” This is getting attention, and it should. But let’s read past the headlines. What the Paper Actually Says The Nature paper doesn’t claim ERW doesn’t work. It catalogs the variables that make precise quantification difficult: soil type, mineral grain size, local climate, microbial activity, and leaching dynamics all influence how fast basalt dissolves and how much CO₂ is actually captured and stored. ...

While most CDR headlines focus on North America and Europe, Asia is quietly building serious carbon removal capacity. The latest example: Japan’s Green Carbon Inc. has partnered with Ahmedabad-based Excellent Enfab to deploy industrial-scale biochar production in India. The Deal Two new pyrolysis plants will be built in Gujarat and West Bengal. Feedstock comes from locally sourced agricultural residues — peanut shells, flower stems, bamboo — the kind of waste that would otherwise decompose and release CO₂ back into the atmosphere. ...

Here’s a climate feedback loop that doesn’t get enough attention: the hotter it gets, the more we cool ourselves, and the more we cool ourselves, the hotter it gets. A new study in Nature Communications by Hongzhi Zhang, Yuli Shan (University of Birmingham), and colleagues has quantified this problem with uncomfortable precision. The Numbers Under a mid-range emissions scenario (SSP2-4.5), cumulative AC-related emissions from 2010 to 2050 could reach 113.3 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalents. In the worst case, annual emissions from air conditioning alone could hit 8.5 billion tonnes by 2050 — significantly more than the current total US emissions of 5.9 Gt/year. ...

Climeworks, one of the Carbon Drawdown Initiative’s portfolio companies, has established new headquarters in Calgary, Alberta. Why Calgary Alberta offers something few other jurisdictions can match: deep expertise in carbon management, established subsurface storage infrastructure, and a supportive regulatory environment for carbon capture projects. Calgary’s Energy Transition Centre (ETC) — where Climeworks is setting up — brings startups, researchers, investors, and industry leaders under one roof. It’s a deliberate choice. Alberta has decades of experience managing CO₂ underground, originally for enhanced oil recovery but increasingly for permanent geological storage. ...

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has released preliminary findings from the first U.S. Environmental Protection Agency–permitted ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) field trial. The results, presented at the biennial Ocean Sciences Meeting in Glasgow, represent a significant step forward for marine carbon dioxide removal. What Happened In August 2025, the LOC-NESS (Locking Ocean Carbon in the Northeast Shelf and Slope) team conducted a six-hour dispersal of 65,000 liters of highly purified sodium hydroxide — a common water treatment chemical — into the surface waters of the Wilkinson Basin in the Gulf of Maine. A red tracer dye (Rhodamine Water Tracer) was released alongside it to track the alkalinity patch. ...

Germany is building Direct Air Capture infrastructure. DACMA GmbH just broke ground on a new DAC competence center in the Port of Hamburg — and simultaneously announced a landmark order from Canadian project developer Deep Sky. The Facility The DACMA Competence Center will serve as a research, development, and testing platform for modular DAC plants. The center will: Improve technical components for CO₂ capture from ambient air Optimize operating processes for efficiency Advance new research topics with international universities Test Generation 2 DAC technology before international deployment Hamburg’s Senator for Economics, Dr. Melanie Leonhard, framed it in economic terms: “We are extracting carbon dioxide directly from the air and turning it into an opportunity for industry, value creation, and climate protection.” ...

The geography of carbon removal is shifting. Japan’s Green Carbon Inc. has partnered with India’s Excellent Enfab Incorporation to build an industrial-scale biochar carbon removal plant in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Commercial operations are planned for Q2 2026. The Partnership Green Carbon, headquartered in Japan, has built a diverse CDR portfolio spanning rice paddy credits, biochar, forest conservation, carbon farming, mangrove planting, and cattle methane reduction across Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, and South America. ...

West Virginia — historically defined by coal — is positioning itself as a destination for biochar carbon removal companies. The state Senate’s Economic Development Committee just passed SB893, a bill that stacks state tax credits on top of existing federal incentives. What the Bill Does Starting July 1, 2026, and lasting for 12 years, biochar facilities in West Virginia that qualify for federal carbon removal tax credits will also receive a state credit worth 10% of the federal amount, applied against corporate net income tax. ...

Texas A&M researchers claim a pressure-based carbon capture system can hit $26/ton — less than half the cost of conventional amine systems. The numbers are exciting, but scale-up is everything.

A CCSA/Deloitte analysis warns that Europe’s slow CCUS financing could drive heavy industry to jurisdictions with faster-moving climate infrastructure.

New research analyzes 38 US coastal facilities to identify the most promising hubs for electrochemical marine carbon dioxide removal.

Northwestern researchers developed a covalent organic framework that grabs and releases CO₂ electrically, potentially eliminating the costly heat regeneration step in carbon capture.