Arctic driftwood proposal for durable carbon removal

Capture and storage of atmospheric CO 2 offer a means to stabilise climate alongside emission-reduction efforts. However, it is estimated that over 10 gigatonnes (Gt) of CO 2 would have to be removed and sequestered each year over the 21st century to mitigate legacy effects of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and compensate for those sources expected to remain hard to decarbonise 1 , 2 , 3 . While reductions of fossil fuel burning must be prioritised at national and international levels 3 , 4 , different hybrid nature-engineering technologies have been recommended to capture and store CO 2 from the Earth’s atmosphere. Although frequently presented as viable strategies for mitigating the effects of greenhouse gas emissions 1 , 2 , many approaches face questions regarding their scalability and the risk of counterproductive consequences for humans and the environment 5 .