FAQ

What is mCDR?

Gigaton-scale carbon dioxide removal (CDR) will be needed to maintain global temperature rise over the remainder of the century to under 1.5°C or 2°C. Marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) technologies are under development and some have the potential to operate at climate-relevant scales. Read more about ocean CDR here.

What is mCDR?

Gigaton-scale carbon dioxide removal (CDR) will be needed to maintain global temperature rise over the remainder of the century to under 1.5°C or 2°C. Marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) technologies are under development and some have the potential to operate at climate-relevant scales. Read more about ocean CDR here.

What is mCDR?

Gigaton-scale carbon dioxide removal (CDR) will be needed to maintain global temperature rise over the remainder of the century to under 1.5°C or 2°C. Marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) technologies are under development and some have the potential to operate at climate-relevant scales. Read more about ocean CDR here.

What is [C]Worthy doing?

While mCDR may have an important role to play in climate mitigation, carbon removal markets require robust Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) to quantify with known precision the CO₂ removal and storage durability associated with mCDR deployments. Methodologies to support MRV for mCDR present substantial technical challenges because the ocean is a turbulent fluid and the marine carbon cycle is mediated by complex physical, chemical, and ecological interactions. [C]Worthy is building software that supports multi-scale oceanographic modeling and data integration for quantifying the efficacy and ecological impacts of mCDR. [C]Worthy will use this system in collaboration with a community of researchers to build applications that provide science-based decision-support for questions related to mCDR, including market-quality MRV, mCDR deployment design, and ecological impact assessments. The software will be open source and freely available.

What is [C]Worthy doing?

While mCDR may have an important role to play in climate mitigation, carbon removal markets require robust Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) to quantify with known precision the CO₂ removal and storage durability associated with mCDR deployments. Methodologies to support MRV for mCDR present substantial technical challenges because the ocean is a turbulent fluid and the marine carbon cycle is mediated by complex physical, chemical, and ecological interactions. [C]Worthy is building software that supports multi-scale oceanographic modeling and data integration for quantifying the efficacy and ecological impacts of mCDR. [C]Worthy will use this system in collaboration with a community of researchers to build applications that provide science-based decision-support for questions related to mCDR, including market-quality MRV, mCDR deployment design, and ecological impact assessments. The software will be open source and freely available.

What is [C]Worthy doing?

While mCDR may have an important role to play in climate mitigation, carbon removal markets require robust Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) to quantify with known precision the CO₂ removal and storage durability associated with mCDR deployments. Methodologies to support MRV for mCDR present substantial technical challenges because the ocean is a turbulent fluid and the marine carbon cycle is mediated by complex physical, chemical, and ecological interactions. [C]Worthy is building software that supports multi-scale oceanographic modeling and data integration for quantifying the efficacy and ecological impacts of mCDR. [C]Worthy will use this system in collaboration with a community of researchers to build applications that provide science-based decision-support for questions related to mCDR, including market-quality MRV, mCDR deployment design, and ecological impact assessments. The software will be open source and freely available.

What is ocean MRV?

Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) is the collection of procedures used to quantify the CO₂ removal and storage durability associated with mCDR deployments. For mCDR, we also believe that MRV must provide quantify uncertainty in carbon removal metrics. [C]Worthy believes in a pragmatic approach to evaluating the quality of MRV for mCDR. We seek to build systems with the following characteristics. MRV should be:

Safe enough: The ecosystem impacts of mCDR technologies can be assessed within the bounds of scientific understanding.
Good enough: The MRV methods are scientifically credible, returning estimates of net carbon removal and associated uncertainties that are sufficiently accurate for use in the carbon marketplace. Notably, we do not think it reasonable to require that MRV conform to arbitrarily high standards of precision, but rather that uncertainty quantification enables markets to apply appropriate discounts.
Fast enough: Decision-support applications and synthesis can be deployed quickly enough to meet the needs of mCDR companies.
Cheap enough: The cost of applying MRV methods is acceptably low in the context of carbon removal markets.
Diverse enough: The system supports the quantification of multiple promising mCDR paths.
Getting better: The system can evolve and improve, tracking the changing state of science..

What is ocean MRV?

Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) is the collection of procedures used to quantify the CO₂ removal and storage durability associated with mCDR deployments. For mCDR, we also believe that MRV must provide quantify uncertainty in carbon removal metrics. [C]Worthy believes in a pragmatic approach to evaluating the quality of MRV for mCDR. We seek to build systems with the following characteristics. MRV should be:

Safe enough: The ecosystem impacts of mCDR technologies can be assessed within the bounds of scientific understanding.
Good enough: The MRV methods are scientifically credible, returning estimates of net carbon removal and associated uncertainties that are sufficiently accurate for use in the carbon marketplace. Notably, we do not think it reasonable to require that MRV conform to arbitrarily high standards of precision, but rather that uncertainty quantification enables markets to apply appropriate discounts.
Fast enough: Decision-support applications and synthesis can be deployed quickly enough to meet the needs of mCDR companies.
Cheap enough: The cost of applying MRV methods is acceptably low in the context of carbon removal markets.
Diverse enough: The system supports the quantification of multiple promising mCDR paths.
Getting better: The system can evolve and improve, tracking the changing state of science..

What is ocean MRV?

Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) is the collection of procedures used to quantify the CO₂ removal and storage durability associated with mCDR deployments. For mCDR, we also believe that MRV must provide quantify uncertainty in carbon removal metrics. [C]Worthy believes in a pragmatic approach to evaluating the quality of MRV for mCDR. We seek to build systems with the following characteristics. MRV should be:

Safe enough: The ecosystem impacts of mCDR technologies can be assessed within the bounds of scientific understanding.
Good enough: The MRV methods are scientifically credible, returning estimates of net carbon removal and associated uncertainties that are sufficiently accurate for use in the carbon marketplace. Notably, we do not think it reasonable to require that MRV conform to arbitrarily high standards of precision, but rather that uncertainty quantification enables markets to apply appropriate discounts.
Fast enough: Decision-support applications and synthesis can be deployed quickly enough to meet the needs of mCDR companies.
Cheap enough: The cost of applying MRV methods is acceptably low in the context of carbon removal markets.
Diverse enough: The system supports the quantification of multiple promising mCDR paths.
Getting better: The system can evolve and improve, tracking the changing state of science..

Is mCDR safe for marine ecosystems?

The different technologies proposed for mCDR have the potential to affect ecosystems in different ways. At [C]Worthy we are engaged in ongoing research to quantify the impacts that marine ecosystems might experience with mCDR. Fundamentally, we feel it’s important that careful scientific assessments are conducted prior to mCDR technologies being deployed at scale in the ocean and our tools will contribute to making these assessments. It’s also important to recognize that CO₂ accumulation in the atmosphere and climate change have the potential to severely impact marine ecosystems.

Is mCDR safe for marine ecosystems?

The different technologies proposed for mCDR have the potential to affect ecosystems in different ways. At [C]Worthy we are engaged in ongoing research to quantify the impacts that marine ecosystems might experience with mCDR. Fundamentally, we feel it’s important that careful scientific assessments are conducted prior to mCDR technologies being deployed at scale in the ocean and our tools will contribute to making these assessments. It’s also important to recognize that CO₂ accumulation in the atmosphere and climate change have the potential to severely impact marine ecosystems.

Is mCDR safe for marine ecosystems?

The different technologies proposed for mCDR have the potential to affect ecosystems in different ways. At [C]Worthy we are engaged in ongoing research to quantify the impacts that marine ecosystems might experience with mCDR. Fundamentally, we feel it’s important that careful scientific assessments are conducted prior to mCDR technologies being deployed at scale in the ocean and our tools will contribute to making these assessments. It’s also important to recognize that CO₂ accumulation in the atmosphere and climate change have the potential to severely impact marine ecosystems.

What about reducing emissions?

Fundamentally, the most important thing we need to do to stop climate change is reduce CO₂ emissions by reducing consumption and switching to renewable sources of energy. However, the IPCC has determined that emissions reductions alone will not be enough to keep warming to below 1.5°C or 2°C—we also need to actively remove CO₂ from the atmosphere. The amount of CO₂ we have to remove is daunting and so investments in CDR now may seem pointless. However, the actions we take now have critical importance for setting the trajectory of the CDR industry so that it might be capable of climate-relevant quantities of removal by 2050 and beyond. [C]Worthy is dedicated to ensuring that the growth of the mCDR is accomplished on the basis of high-quality science.

What about reducing emissions?

Fundamentally, the most important thing we need to do to stop climate change is reduce CO₂ emissions by reducing consumption and switching to renewable sources of energy. However, the IPCC has determined that emissions reductions alone will not be enough to keep warming to below 1.5°C or 2°C—we also need to actively remove CO₂ from the atmosphere. The amount of CO₂ we have to remove is daunting and so investments in CDR now may seem pointless. However, the actions we take now have critical importance for setting the trajectory of the CDR industry so that it might be capable of climate-relevant quantities of removal by 2050 and beyond. [C]Worthy is dedicated to ensuring that the growth of the mCDR is accomplished on the basis of high-quality science.

What about reducing emissions?

Fundamentally, the most important thing we need to do to stop climate change is reduce CO₂ emissions by reducing consumption and switching to renewable sources of energy. However, the IPCC has determined that emissions reductions alone will not be enough to keep warming to below 1.5°C or 2°C—we also need to actively remove CO₂ from the atmosphere. The amount of CO₂ we have to remove is daunting and so investments in CDR now may seem pointless. However, the actions we take now have critical importance for setting the trajectory of the CDR industry so that it might be capable of climate-relevant quantities of removal by 2050 and beyond. [C]Worthy is dedicated to ensuring that the growth of the mCDR is accomplished on the basis of high-quality science.