Global Climate News

UK-based carbon removal company UNDO, led by CEO Jim Mann, has implemented enhanced rock weathering technology to remove CO2 while supporting agricultural practices.

Lithos Carbon, a carbon sequestration company, has been selected for the Compute for Climate Fellowship by IRCAI and AWS, which will provide cloud computing resources and support to develop computational models for scaling carbon removal. The company aims to reduce carbon removal costs to $100 per ton within a decade while maintaining quantification standards, and plans to unveil a prototype model in 2025.

U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Michael Bennet have introduced the Carbon Dioxide Removal Investment Act to create a production tax credit of $250 per ton of removed carbon (with BECCS receiving $110). The technology-neutral bill aims to support various carbon removal approaches including direct air capture, enhanced rock weathering, and marine carbon removal, while excluding companies eligible for existing 45Q credit.

Professor Marco Mazzotti of ETH Zurich, who has focused on crystallisation and carbon capture storage (CCS) research, will be conferred emeritus status in January 2025. He has led the DemoUpCARMA project demonstrating practical CCS implementation and remains a scientific advisor at Neustark, an ETH spin-off commercializing carbon mineralization technology.

Auto Trader has partnered with UNDO for its first carbon removal initiative, where UNDO will spread 1,839 tonnes of basalt rock to remove 340 tonnes of CO2. UNDO aims to scale up to remove one million tonnes of CO2 by 2025 through enhanced rock weathering technology, while Auto Trader targets net-zero by 2040.

Scientists at Virginia Tech have discovered the first geochemical evidence of the "slushy planet" period that followed the global "snowball Earth" ice age. The research team led by Shuhai Xiao has analyzed carbonate rocks' lithium isotopes to show how Earth transitioned from a frozen state to a "plumeworld ocean" era where freshwater from melting ice sat atop denser saline water.

AirMiners selected 20 startups for carbon removal funding; Shopify offers each $100K purchase.

British Airways funds crushed rock projects to offset emissions, aiming for net zero by 2050.