Pair of studies evaluates seaweed farming’s potential to remove carbon dioxide from coastal waters

SCCWRP and its partners have published a pair of studies exploring how seaweed farming could be used to remove dissolved carbon dioxide directly from coastal waters – a potential management solution that could help combat global climate change as well as alleviate the effects of intensifying ocean acidification.

The first study found that the area where seaweed is farmed would need to be 370 times larger than it presently is to remove 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually.

The second study found that growing seaweed would have the greatest benefit as a climate change mitigation measure if seaweed were to replace crops grown on land that have a larger carbon footprint; this benefit would be greater than sinking seaweed into the deep sea.

Both studies were published last year.

Seaweed farming is one of multiple marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) solutions being explored in Southern California coastal waters as a potential offset for managing the effects of both climate change and ocean acidification.