Navigating to Solutions for Ocean-Based Carbon Dioxide Removal

There is scientific consensus that carbon dioxide removal (CDR) will be necessary to meet the Paris Agreement's goal of keeping the rise in global temperature to within 2°C. Among the most promising and scalable approaches to CDR are ocean-based pathways. These methods capitalize on natural physical and biogeochemical processes — but the ocean is vast, dynamic, and ecologically complex, presenting significant challenges to quantifying the amount of carbon removed through CDR interventions. Indeed, a key bottleneck to scaling ocean-based CDR is the absence of robust Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) systems — a gap in capacity that limits investment and hampers growth of an ocean-based carbon removal industry. In this talk, I'll introduce [C]Worthy, a new non-profit research organization dedicated to developing scientifically credible approaches to MRV for ocean-based CDR. Critically, while direct observations provide valuable insights, they are insufficient to assess the effectiveness of ocean-based CDR interventions; advanced oceanographic and biogeochemical modeling tools are a requirement. I'll explore how [C]Worthy is accelerating the development of a standardized, open-source modeling system for quantifying ocean-based CDR, aiming to enable this industry to scale on the basis of credible science and contribute effectively to mitigating carbon dioxide increases in the atmosphere.