The Paris Agreement, which goal is to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels, requires us to make conscious changes to our actions.
Carbon sequestering is one of the many methods created to tackle global warming and climate crisis. It has been studied that by 2050, the amount of captured carbon dioxide emissions could represent 21 to 45% of all the CO2 emitted by human activities.
In this article, we will dive into carbon sequestering and introduce the top five carbon sequestering companies that are helping our planet to avoid the most dangerous consequences.
What is carbon dioxide?
Greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere trap the heat and contribute to climate change. One of these gasses is carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is produced naturally in nature but also by human activities such as burning coal and oil to produce energy. Carbon dioxide is produced when carbon, the chemical element, is combined with oxygen molecules. This combination forms the gaseous carbon dioxide (CO2).
What is carbon sequestering?
Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing produced carbon dioxide and preventing it from entering our atmosphere. Is either a natural or artificial process used to stabilize carbon in solid and dissolved forms so that it doesn’t cause the atmosphere to warm.
How does it work?
Carbon sequestering is one of the key methods for removing carbon from the earth’s atmosphere. There are two basic forms used to remove carbon from the atmosphere, biological and geological carbon sequestration. Biological carbon sequestration refers to the method when carbon is stored in the natural environment. This can mean either forests, soil, or oceans. In geological carbon sequestration, carbon is stored in underground geological formations or rocks.
In addition to these two basic forms, carbon sequestration can also be technological or industrial. The first one is a rather new method of capturing carbon and use the scientists are not only focusing on capturing the carbon and directing it somewhere else but also looking into more ways of using carbon dioxide as a resource. Industrial carbon sequestration can be used in some industries. In this method, the carbon is captured in three ways from a power plant, pre-combustion, post-combustion, and oxyfuel.
Top 5 carbon sequestering companies
Carbfix
Carbfix is Reykjavík (Iceland) based carbon sequestering company that was started as a project in 2006. The Carbfix process captures and permanently removes CO2 by imitating and accelerating the natural carbon storing processes, where carbon dioxide is dissolved in water and interacts with reactive rock formations, such as basalts, to form stable minerals providing a permanent and safe carbon sink.
Climeworks is Zürich (Switzerland) based company. It was founded by friends Jan and Christoph who were committed themselves to creating a solution that empowers everyone to take climate action. Climeworks uses a technology called ‘direct air capture’ to capture carbon dioxide directly from the air.
London (England) based Carbon Clean, founded in 2009, presents themselves as the global leader in innovative and cost-effective carbon capture solutions. Carbon Clean’s goal is to help the industry work toward net zero and their solutions include modular systems, technology license, engineering services, and high-performance solvents.
CO2 Capsol is Oslo (Norway) based carbon capture company that uses a very competitive technology protected by IP rights. Their mission is to be a major contributor to solving one of the biggest global challenges; climate change, with their patented Capsol EoP carbon capture technology.
Global Thermostat, based in Colorado (US), was founded in 2010. They are working to commercialize its unique, multi-patented portfolio of solutions for capturing and removing CO2 directly from the atmosphere to address climate change and power the growing circular carbon economy.
Carbon sequestering is an important method to capture the greenhouse emissions from the atmosphere. Without carbon sequestering, we won’t be able to limit global warming and will face dangerous consequences. Luckily these 5 introduced companies, and many more, are working hard to capture and remove the CO2 from the atmosphere.
Author: Oona Yletyinen
