Can enhanced rock weathering help fight climate change? Report says this

With each passing day, climate change is becoming a topic of global significance. Recently, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that the world was already only a few tenths of a degree away from the global target of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The IPCCsaid that there are multiple, feasible and effective options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to human-caused climate change.

According to a report by BBC on Sunday (May 21), scientists at United Nations (UN) are clear thatreducing greenhouse gas emissions alone would not be enough to stop dangerous levels of warming. They saidthere would need to be some carbon dioxide removal - actively taking it out of the atmosphere.

Now, a process called "enhanced rock weathering" could help to cool our overheating planet.

What is enhanced rock weathering?

Enhanced rock weathering is a nature-based carbon removal technology that permanently locks away Carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere. UNDO, a company that does enhanced rock weathering,said the process has happened for millions of years but the company speeds it up.

"For millions of years, carbon dioxide has combined with rainwater to form carbonic acid. When this dilute acid falls on mountains, forests and grassland, the CO₂ interacts with the rocks and soil, mineralises and is safely stored in carbonate form," the UNDO says on its website.

The company points out that natural rock weathering takes hundreds of years and there is no time to wait.

How does rock weathering work?

The UNDO said that it enhances and accelerates enhanced rock weathering "by spreading crushed basalt rock on farmland, increasing the surface area of the rock and giving it immediate contact with the CO₂ produced by plant roots and soil microbes."

Enhanced rock weathering uses tiny pieces to increase the amount of contact between the rain and rock and hence the amount of weathering and carbon removal, the BBC reported.As a cliff, or piled up in the quarry, basalt weathers very slowly. And to maximise the carbon removal it needs to be spread across a greater area.

The UNDO said it focused on basalt rock as it is highly reactive,weathering quickly to speed up the sequestration ofCO₂.

The company points out that safe to use and offers significant co-benefits for crop and soil health. This year, the UNDO is planning to spread185,000 tonnes of basalt and hopes by 2025 to have removed a million tonnes of CO2.

What do experts say?

Experts worry thatcarbon removal techniques like enhanced rock weatheringmight distract people from the priority of cutting emissions and even be used as justification to continue living our carbon-intensive lives, as per the BBC report.

Dr Steve Smith, an expert in carbon removal from Oxford University, told the network that this idea could end upjust a standard part of the way land is farmed.

WATCH WION LIVE HERE