Rebalancing Earth’s Carbon Cycle is Key to Reversing Climate Change
Carbon is all around us. On Earth we find it in the deep layers of our planet’s crust, in soil, the ocean, and in our atmosphere in the form of the heat-trapping gas, carbon dioxide (CO2). Carbon is also in all living things, including you and me. Earth has many natural systems that are critical to supporting life on our planet, and chief among them, is the carbon cycle. Simply put, it’s the way that carbon moves around our planet – from the atmosphere, to oceans, land, and living things. It’s about sources that put carbon into the atmosphere, and sinks, which take carbon out. Unfortunately, due to human activities since the industrial revolution, the carbon cycle is woefully out of sync with its natural rhythm. Rebalancing Earth’s carbon cycle is key to reversing climate change and emerging carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies are the secret weapon that can help provide order.
How the Carbon Cycle Works
The carbon cycle starts with atmospheric CO2 being absorbed by plants and other forms of biomass during photosynthesis. This locks the carbon into organic matter where it can sustain life on earth, fuel ecosystems, and provide the oxygen we breathe. However, a significant portion of this carbon finds its way back into the atmosphere through respiration or decomposition, closing this initial loop of the carbon cycle.
Our oceans also play a key role in the carbon cycle by acting as a massive sink that absorbs CO2 and helps regulate the climate. Through a series of chemical reactions in the ocean, CO2 influences the ocean’s pH levels and, consequently, marine life and ecosystems.
A System Stressed to its Limit
If you go back in time, the carbon cycle looked a bit different than it does today. Carbon sources were living organisms, volcanic activity, and natural wildfires, while natural sinks like our oceans and land maintained balance. However, human activities since the industrial age have thrown this cycle out of its natural equilibrium.
By extracting and burning fossil fuels for power–ranging from gasoline in vehicles to electricity generation in our buildings–we have released more carbon dioxide than natural sinks can absorb. When combined with a reducing amount of sinks from widespread deforestation for agriculture and urban expansion, we have rapidly increased atmospheric levels of CO2.
The result? A stressed carbon cycle.
This directly results in increases in global temperature, more frequent and severe weather events, and their associated economic and human health impacts.
Restoring the Balance through CDR
To tackle climate change, the delicate balance of earth’s natural carbon cycle must be restored. The damage is not irreversible, but it does require human intervention. That means not only reducing emissions from fossil fuel combustion, but also actively removing the existing atmospheric carbon with carbon dioxide removal solutions.
Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies are innovative and emerging solutions that can rebalance the carbon cycle by pulling CO2 from the atmosphere and durably storing it long-term. CDR technologies can restore the carbon cycle’s inherent ability to process CO2 effectively, whether by using engineered systems or harnessing earth’s natural systems, like the ocean and geologic carbon sinks.
It’s not enough to prevent CO2 from reaching the atmosphere, because there is a vast amount of carbon that has accumulated from our historic emissive activities. Reduction alone won’t return the atmosphere to pre-industrial levels. To bring down atmospheric carbon levels, we need to either create new sinks, for example with technologies like Direct Air Capture, or enhance natural sinks, like using ocean alkalinity enhancement to improve the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon.
The Path Forward
Restoring the balance of the carbon cycle is essential for the health of our planet and the survival of future generations. While the challenge is immense, the solutions are within our reach. By combining aggressive emission reductions with cutting-edge CDR technologies, we can restore harmony to the carbon cycle and mitigate the worst effects of climate change. The path forward requires innovation, collaboration, and a shared commitment to safeguarding our planet’s future.
Climate Vault is dedicated to creating demand for, and supporting, emerging CDR technologies so that we can help restore the natural balance of the carbon cycle for future generations to come. Learn how Climate Vault accomplishes this through an annual RFP program.