🌍Understanding Environmental Impact of Open Ocean CDR

Carbon removal is an intentional intervention in the Earth system with the goal of achieving a positive impact on carbon levels. However, marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) projects can have various impacts on the environment including cobenefits and risks. At Running Tide, we implemented a series of measures and research programs to understand and mitigate negative impacts, and weigh the holistic set of mCDR risks and benefits against the baseline condition of inaction.

Developing a Comprehensive Catalog of Environmental Exposures

We developed a comprehensive catalog of environmental exposures to summarize the best available science regarding the potential environmental impacts of our interventions. This catalog served as a reference to improve the design of our carbon removal approach and was made open-source to aid other ocean carbon removal researchers and companies.

📖Catalog of Environmental Exposures

Establishing a Long-Term Benthic Research Program

Understanding the impact of adding material to the benthic region is crucial. To address this, we established a long-term benthic research program. This program focused on quantifying the degradation rates and other impacts of introduced biomass on benthic ecosystems, which is essential for verifying carbon removal and understanding the broader ecological effects of our interventions.

🌊Long Term Benthic Research Program

Thoroughly Characterizing Our Substrates and Materials

To ensure the effectiveness and environmental safety of our substrates and materials before placing them in the ocean for carbon removal, we conducted thorough characterization studies in our analytical and experimental labs and had samples tested and analyzed by third parties.

🔬Characterization of Substrates and Materials