Environmental Engineering Perspectives on Ocean-Based Carbon Dioxide Removal

Limiting global warming below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, as set forth by the Paris Agreement targets, will require not only achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but also the removal and durable storage of legacy carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the atmosphere at a rate of at least 10 Gt CO2 per year by mid-century. Thus, cost-effective carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies must be rapidly developed, tested, and scaled up to the gigaton-level capacity. Any potential adverse environmental impacts must also be understood and mitigated.

The oceans have great potential to support the development and implementation of CDR technologies due to their vast surface area (covering over 70 % of the Earth’s surface). Broadly, ocean-based CDR technologies aim to augment the ocean’s natural carbon cycle (e.g., through stimulating the growth of photosynthetic organisms, increasing ocean alkalinity concentrations, or restoring ecosystems) or to directly remove CO2 from seawater and sequester it in geological reservoirs or valorize it in industries. Compared to land-based CDR technologies, ocean-based CDR technologies are still in the early stages of development and require extensive testing for effectiveness, efficiency, feasibility, and ecological impacts. It is most likely that a diverse portfolio of CDR technologies is needed to distribute the strain on global resources and ecosystems.

This Research Topic aims to explore ocean-based CDR technologies from the perspective of environmental engineering and water pollution control. We invite articles on technologies for ocean-based CDR approaches such as, but not limited to: ocean alkalinity enhancement, artificial upwelling and downwelling, macroalgal cultivation, direct ocean CO2 removal and storage, and ocean nutrient fertilization.

Articles should contribute insight into any of the following areas:

· Development or improvement of ocean-based CDR technologies
· Field tests of ocean-based CDR technologies
· Impacts of ocean-based CDR interventions on ecosystems and water quality
· Modeling of ocean-based CDR interventions
· Valorization of CO2 or other carbon materials
· Strategies for mitigation of life cycle emissions in ocean-based CDR technologies
· Mitigation of ocean acidification with ocean-based CDR interventions
· Treatment of water to mitigate adverse impacts from ocean-based CDR interventions
· Life cycle analyses of ocean-based CDR approaches
· Measurement, Reporting, and Verification
· Regulations on ocean-based CDR and water pollution

We welcome submissions of the following article types: Brief Research Report, Correction, Data Report, Hypothesis & Theory, Methods, Mini Review, Opinion, Original Research, Perspective, Review, Technology and Code.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Registered Report
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Technology and Code

Keywords: carbon dioxide removal (CDR), ocean-based CDR methods, climate change, environmental engineering, ocean carbon

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.