According to a major new study headed by experts at the University of Sheffield, adding rock dust to UK agricultural soils could absorb up to 45 percent of the atmospheric carbon dioxide needed to reach net zero emissions.
The research, led by Dr. Euripides Kantzas, a senior research associate at the University’s Leverhulme Centre for Climate Change Mitigation, is the first systematic examination of the potential and costs of improved weathering for greenhouse gas removal in the UK over the next 50 years.
The authors show that this technology has the potential to make a significant contribution to the UK’s greenhouse gas removal requirements in the coming decades, with a removal potential of 6-30 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year by 2050.
This equates to up to 45% of the atmospheric carbon removal needed to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions while also reducing emissions.
Because the strategy employs existing infrastructure and has lower carbon removal costs than other CDR strategies like direct air capture with carbon capture storage and bioenergy crops with carbon capture and storage, deployment could be simple.
The ability of this approach to CDR to produce big advantages for agriculture in terms of lowering nitrous oxide emissions, correcting soil acidification that limits yields, and reducing demand for imported fertilisers is an obvious advantage.
By quantifying the carbon removal potential and co-benefits of amending crops with crushed rock in the UK, we provide a blueprint for deploying enhanced rock weathering on a national level, adding to the toolbox of solutions for carbon-neutral economies.
Dr. Euripides Kantz
The war in Ukraine have underscored the benefits of minimizing reliance on imported food and fertilizers, which has caused food and fertilizer prices to skyrocket around the world as exports of both are disrupted.
The study’s authors emphasize that social acceptability is essential at all levels, from national politics to local community and agricultural scales.
While mining operations for the production of basalt rock dust will create new jobs and may contribute to the UK government’s leveling up goal, this must be done in a fair and courteous manner to local community concerns.
This new study adds to the body of knowledge about what increased rock weathering as a carbon dioxide removal technique could mean for the UK’s net-zero goal by 2050. Because it required more investigation, the Committee on Climate Change, which gives independent advice to the government on climate change and carbon budgets, omitted increased weathering in their recent net-zero report.
The new research shows that increased weathering is on par with other choices and offers significant co-benefits for UK food output and soil health.
Professor David Beerling, Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Climate Change Mitigation at the University of Sheffield and senior author of the study, said:
“Our analysis highlights the potential of UK agriculture to deliver substantial carbon drawdown by transitioning to managing arable farms with rock dust, with added benefits for soil health and food security.”
Dr. Euripides Kantz as of the Leverhulme Centre for Climate Change Mitigation at the University of Sheffield and lead author, said:
“By quantifying the carbon removal potential and co-benefits of amending crops with crushed rock in the UK, we provide a blueprint for deploying enhanced rock weathering on a national level, adding to the toolbox of solutions for carbon-neutral economies.”
Professor Nick Pidgeon, a partner in the study and Director of the Understanding Risk Group at Cardiff University, said: “Meeting our net-zero targets will need widespread changes to the way UK agriculture and land is managed. For this transformation to succeed we will need to fully engage rural communities and farmers in this important journey.”
