[GWSG] Equatic report; other ocean based projects; The Future of Nature: Oceans

[Tilley, Al]

1. A few years ago I said I would keep an eye on Equatic (once called SeaChange), which proposes to remove carbon from the ocean and store it for thousands of years in a cost-effective process scalable to the task of removing enough carbon from the global system to restore a more livable climate once we have emissions under control. Last December the BBC provided an update. Successful pilot projects are complete, and plants are under construction in Singapore and Quebec to remove 4,000 tonnes (Singapore) and 100,000 tonnes (Quebec) of carbon annually. Equatic plans to have the price of C to under $100/tonne by 2030 with the goal of eventually lowering the price to <$30. About 12,000 of the plants could take down 20% of current C emissions. The objections to the project amount to cautions that we should be wary of unexpected impacts on the oceanic environment. The future of the project depends on the willingness of future governments to fund carbon drawdown.   https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20241217-the-controversial-machine-using-marine-carbon-removal-to-store-co2-in-the-ocean
2. ABC reports on other ocean-based carbon drawdown projects but seems unaware of Equatic. https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/ocean-dumping-climate-solution-growing-industry-bets-ocean-120016195
3. YouTube provides a four-minute video of some of the projects covered in the ABC story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdp04k4VhuU
4. A new PBS series The Future of Nature opens with Oceans, which surveys ways in which the oceans are changing in the climate crisis and, especially, ways in which they act to draw down and store carbon. Mangrove forests store more C than any other kind of forest, and store it for thousands of years; creatures of the twilight zone rise at night to pull carbon from the upper atmosphere to ocean depths. Humpback whales and bluefin tuna have seen great recoveries. Both act to draw down carbon. The theme of the series is that natural systems are countering our greenhouse gas emissions, and can greatly increase the effect with our informed help. The next episode, Grasslands, premieres April 2. Forests and Humans follow soon. https://www.kpbs.org/news/2025/03/24/the-future-of-nature  Perhaps list members with special knowledge will provide us with critiques of the series.


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