Inadequate Interventions for Greenhouse Gas Removal
We need more effective approaches to removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere to mitigate climate impacts. However, challenges remain in harnessing natural carbon removal systems—due to difficulties in accurately measuring their environmental impact—and in reducing methane emissions from sources like the cow rumen. Innovative strategies, including modifying cow microbiomes and deploying scalable measurement and validation platforms, are essential to advance greenhouse gas removal efforts.
See also: https://www.bezosearthfund.org/news-and-insights/bezos-earth-fund-releases-global-roadmap-to-scale-greenhouse-gas-removal-technologies and https://gaps.frontierclimate.com/
Foundational Capabilities (5)
Create computational and experimental platforms tailored to validate, measure, report, and verify carbon removal and its environmental impacts in natural systems such as the ocean or soil.
Beyond MRV, methods to valorize CDR at scale are needed.
Deploy networks of in-situ and remote sensors to monitor emissions across key ecosystems like thawing permafrost, peatlands, and tropical forests.
Reduce methane production from cows by modifying or removing the methanogen microbes in their rumen:
• Microbe-targeting vaccines
• Gene engineered cow microbiome
• Highly specific antibacterials
Implement high-precision monitoring systems to measure methane production from livestock, enabling optimized agricultural practices.