Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere plays a primary role in global temperatures. It absorbs and radiates heat. Consequently, it must be controlled to limit temperature increases and meet 2015 Paris Agreement greenhouse gas requirements.
Unfortunately, many of our current practices create carbon dioxide. Consequently, it is necessary to remove or capture existing gases. Additionally, we must create new techniques and practices that reduce or eliminate carbon dioxide.
Fortunately, governments and private companies can now pave a path towards a greener future. Many promising CO₂ removal technologies already exist or are in development.
Carbon Capture and Storage Solutions
CCS solutions are first steps that minimize carbon dioxide production. Possible solutions include afforestation (planting trees in new areas) to increase carbon capture and storage.
One study suggests the planet could support up to 0.9 billion hectares of additional continuous forest that could store up to 25% of the current atmospheric carbon pool. Agroforestry could also sequester carbon and reduce emissions and fossil fuel usage.
Biomass with carbon removal and storage (BiCRS) also offers opportunities since it uses biomass to capture and store CO₂, either underground or in long-lived products. Crops are not the primary source of biomass. Instead, techniques utilize agricultural, forestry, industrial, or food waste.
For instance, branches, leaves, and roots left behind after logging are suitable biofuel. Seaweed is also suitable and can grow in industrial wastewater, without competing with food production or land needs.
However, as we inch closer to the Net Zero deadline of 2050, the need for more drastic carbon dioxide measures is now more apparent. If we are to limit the overall rise in global temperatures to under 1.5 degrees Celsius, it will take more than capture and storage solutions. These prevent the emission of harmful greenhouse gases, but do nothing for carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere.
Engineered Carbon Dioxide Removal
Engineered Carbon Dioxide Removal solutions can achieve higher carbon sequestration and better success when natural solutions cannot succeed or cannot succeed quickly enough.
Direct Air Capture
Direct air capture extracts CO₂ from the atmosphere and sequesters it underground. To date, 27 small-scale DAC plants are in the works in Europe, North America, Japan and the Middle East.
However, this technology must depend on renewable energy to be economically and environmentally feasible. Even so, it can be expensive, costing between $100 to $600 per metric ton of CO₂ removed.
Carbon Mineralization
Carbon mineralization involves spreading and exposing minerals that naturally capture atmospheric carbon dioxide. One study suggest that we could remove up to 1 gigaton of CO₂ per year globally with large-scale deployment.
Finding Optimal Carbon Dioxide Technologies
Obviously, it may not make financial sense for business or government to blindly undertake mass deployment of carbon dioxide solutions. They need a way to analyze potential solutions and test them for suitability.
Fortunately, EarlyBirds’ open innovation ecosystem gives innovators and subject matter experts a platform to interact with early adopters and bring promising CO₂ removal technologies to market. We offer four pathways towards successful innovation and the following benefits:
• Reduced cost of innovation
• Quick increases in innovation capability, when required
• Connections to the best Subject Matter Experts and innovators available
• Simple process
EarlyBirds Innovation Ecosystem
Our award-winning Innovation Ecosystem earned us the title of Global Open Innovation Platform of the Year 2023. It allows both innovation and strategic thinking in all areas of a business, whatever the technical or business challenge or potential opportunity your organisation wants to explore.
We unite Innovators, Early Adopters, and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to fuel rapid innovative adoption and business evolution. Early Adopters are leaders who are eager to identify new and disruptive technologies. They want to seize opportunities, solve business challenges, or create new products and services.
Our Ecosystem has a data pool of over 4.9 million global innovations across many industries with solutions that may already address your organisation’s challenges. Alternatively, organisations can list their challenges and request solutions from innovators.
The EarlyBirds platform also contains a gigantic pool of data on industry and innovation news that can help participants better understand the broad range of subjects related to strategy, innovation, and collaboration.
EarlyBirds Innovation Ecosystem Maps
EarlyBirds innovation ecosystem maps plot value chains, technology specializations, and specific topics. These maps provide companies with an easy way to keep themselves updated on the various trends in these thematic areas.
In turn, businesses can seize opportunities, solve business to technical problems, and identify potential innovators for beneficial partnerships. Maps are individualized for each organisation and specifically designed with organisational goals in mind.
EarlyBirds Explorer Program
The Explorer Program is tailored towards those who need innovation as a service to supplement existing innovation programs, or to conduct innovation projects when required. It is designed to speed up the process of technological innovation for the organisation as a service.
The Explorer program includes several features including quarterly and monthly innovation days; regular webinars to help stimulate innovation in the organisation; a focus on types of innovations; a platform enterprise license; and a nominated SME for the business.
EarlyBirds Challenger Program
The Challenger Program focuses on a single organisational or technical challenge. It looks for the most relevant innovators that meet your organisational, technical, and risk requirements.
The program is run by an EarlyBirds Subject Matter Expert who identifies your key issues. The SME then searches the data pool to identify and curate options for further evaluation. The most suitable option is chosen and the SME drafts a roadmap of next steps, POC, trial, or implementation.
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EarlyBirds can help your organisation access global innovation resources. We’ve helped those in the Public Sector, Food Industry, Retail, Healthcare, Operations & Maintenance, Manufacturing, Finance & Insurance, Energy, Education, Cybersecurity, and many other industries. Let us guide you towards appropriate partnerships that can reduce risk, amplify resources, solve problems, and spur innovation.
Organisations can register independently at https://earlybirds.io/. Alternatively, those unsure of which option is best suited to their needs can schedule a consultation. We use an individualized approach to ensure you find the best possible solutions.