A rock-solid
climate
solution

The concept of negative emissions is the idea of pulling out more carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the Earth’s atmosphere than what we introduce. Negative Emissions Technologies (NETs), which can also be called carbon dioxide removal (CDR), is the suite of solutions which remove CO₂ from the atmosphere or upper ocean and permanently store it. They are distinct from other climate mitigation actions which are limited to emissions reductions or decarbonization like CO₂ capture at fossil power plants.

Human activities have altered the natural global carbon cycle through decades of emitting greenhouse gases (GHGs). To redress that imbalance, NETs, alongside drastic GHG emission reductions, are required to meet the 2015 Paris Agreement goal of limiting the global average temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. This goal cannot be met by emissions reductions alone.

Hundreds of billions of tonnes of CO₂ (100’s of Gt CO₂) need to be removed from the atmosphere cumulatively by the year 2100.  The sooner we can build and implement NETs, alongside emissions reductions and decarbonization, the better. Crossing the 1.5°C threshold risks unleashing far more severe climate change impacts, including more frequent and severe droughts, heatwaves, storms and rainfall.

Solid Carbon aims to reverse the effects of anthropogenic global warming and climate change by permanently removing excess CO₂ from the atmosphere via a scalable Negative Emissions Technologies solution.

Solid Carbon makes use of the world’s largest possible reservoir for CO₂ sequestration—ocean basalt, which reacts with the CO₂ to turn it into carbonate rock. The initiative is unlike some other sequestration options, which inject CO₂ into saline aquifers or depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs where it remains CO₂ for many thousands of years. Solid Carbon is therefore durable, safe, and scalable.

More than 95% of the world’s basalt is beneath the ocean floor making Solid Carbon globally scalable at locations where ocean basalt occurs, with a virtually unlimited storage capacity.

Solid Carbon is designed to be powered by clean and renewable energy. It harnesses abundant offshore wind energy, is self-contained, and avoids land-use competition. Ocean Networks Canada’s existing ocean observing infrastructure at Cascadia Basin can provide transparent monitoring, reporting, and verification of Solid Carbon in near real-time, opening the pathway for a global climate solution.

Solid Carbon has few technical limitations and could scale up to capture and sequester significant amounts  of CO₂ with global impact to mitigate climate change. 

As an example, just the basalt of the Cascadia Basin, which is part of the Juan de Fuca oceanic plate off the North American west coast, has the potential to provide safe storage of over a hundred billion tonnes (Gt) of CO₂, theoretically up to 750 Gt – this equates to about 100 years worth of North America’s current carbon emissions, or over 15 years’ worth of current (2024) global carbon emissions.

Around the world, similar safe and accessible ocean basalt regions exist with an estimated overall total carbon removal potential of several tens of thousands of Gt of CO₂, which is more than would ever be needed.

In terms of how much CO₂ Solid Carbon can capture per year, this is only limited by available renewable energy and injection capacity, but our research shows that Solid Carbon is globally scalable to 10+ Gt of CO₂ per year, reaching the magnitude of what is needed to limit global warming to the levels agreed to in the Paris Agreement. This also helps mitigate hard-to-decarbonize sectors such as aviation, agriculture and steel production as these sectors transition to a low-to-no emissions future.

In 2012, a team of international researchers and engineers injected a small amount of CO₂ into porous basalt on land at a test site in southwest Iceland. Within two years, most of the CO₂ had reacted to become carbonate rock. This was showcased at the World Economic Forum and published in Science.

The Solid Carbon team has conducted geochemical modelling and experiments to estimate outcomes for an ocean basalt demonstration at Cascadia Basin off the west coast of Canada. The time for this mineralization process to occur depends on many factors, such as how much CO₂ is injected, or if any accelerative techniques will be used, such as adding water to the CO₂. However, rock formation would start immediately and be completed in decades at most, compared to the many millennia for traditional sedimentary carbon reservoirs.

No. Solid Carbon does not support fossil resource extraction or enhanced hydrocarbon recovery. It intends to adapt the energy sector’s expertise and technology towards positive climate action through re-conversion from extraction to injection. Our vision is a socially responsible transition of energy expertise, to new clean tech careers.

Disposal-at-sea is governed by “London Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter 1972” (London Convention), and the “1996 Protocol to the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, 1972” (London Protocol). The original convention did not anticipate subseafloor CO₂ sequestration. Environment and Climate Change Canada is working on implementing the London Protocol, allowing for sub-seabed storage of CO₂ as well as the trans-boundary movement of CO₂ for storage.

Solid Carbon has successfully completed a comprehensive four-year desk study, laboratory experiments and modelling funded by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, assessing the feasibility from engineering, geoscience, regulatory, and social science perspectives. This research followed a 1.5-year pre-feasibility study, CarbonSAFE Cascadia, that was funded by the United States Department of Energy. Having demonstrated the feasibility of Solid Carbon as a climate mitigation solution, the project’s recommended next steps are a field demonstration and continuous monitoring at Canada’s Cascadia Basin, a preliminary engineering and design assessment of a Cascadia production system, and a technical, regulatory, and social framework for expanding globally. Solid Carbon is in the process of raising funds for the demonstration.

A demonstration of sequestering a small amount of CO₂ into ocean basalt will serve as a proof-of-concept and advance global scientific knowledge. Based on prior experience with geosequestration of CO₂ on land, Solid Carbon partners can be confident of permanent containment, but we stand to improve our knowledge on the speed and extent of mineralization. The knowledge gained through a demonstration will be invaluable to future site identification and system designs.

A demonstration will refine our performance estimates and inform future site developments. The demonstration will validate socially responsible injection and monitoring strategies, reveal the extent of subsurface CO₂ propagation, and quantify the scope and speed of mineralization. The demonstration may also inform estimates of overall capacity, establish per-wellhead parameters necessary for injection network design, and develop the technology supply chains for subsequent development.

Research conducted by the Solid Carbon project partners has addressed many of the potential or perceived risk factors to confirm that CO₂ can safely be injected and stored below the impermeable seafloor, permanently removing it from the atmosphere.

We modelled and calculated that there is almost no risk (less than 1%) of causing seismic movement at Cascadia Basin, and a further demonstration will verify these results in the field.

The Solid Carbon team also concluded from comprehensive modelling that the dense sediments overlaying the permeable basalt injection site will seal in the CO₂ below. Should the CO₂ unexpectedly penetrate the sediments, it will convert to solid ice-like CO₂ hydrate and form a secondary trap. The safety of this process will be demonstrated during the proposed demonstration at Cascadia Basin by thorough ongoing real-time monitoring that utilizes a comprehensive list of sensors, including seafloor camera observations..

All aspects of the demonstration project will be transparent and engage with the public, and especially with local Indigenous communities, as we mutually seek solutions for mitigating the climate change crisis.

The proposed Solid Carbon project at the Cascadia Basin is within the Tang.ɢwan – ḥačxwiqak – Tsig̱is Marine Protected Area (TḥT MPA). Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) collaboratively manages the MPA with First Nations partners. Solid Carbon partners, led by Ocean Networks Canada, work closely with DFO and First Nations to follow regulatory processes when conducting scientific activities within the TḥT.