The deep ocean has huge potential for carbon removal. Our partner Running Tide has tapped into this potential by using the ocean's natural carbon removal pathways to capture and sink it to the bottom of the ocean, where it is safely stored for thousands of years.

Running Tide’s negative emissions

The oceans are a natural carbon sink, as they already store more than 37,000 gigatons of carbon. Running Tide is a global ocean health company that sustainably amplifies the ocean’s natural carbon removal process.

Running Tide deploys a multi-pathway carbon removal system to move carbon from the fast carbon cycle to safe storage in the slow carbon cycle. The system uses three integrated pathways. First, buoys are created out of forestry byproducts or other terrestrial biomass, which would otherwise be burned or left to degrade. This terrestrial biomass contains carbon accumulated by years of plant growth, fixed in the biomass by photosynthesis. The buoys are coated in calcium carbonate, such as limestone, which provides ocean alkalinity enhancement to combat ocean acidification and promote the ocean’s natural ability to safely absorb CO₂. Macroalgae is seeded onto the buoys, which are deployed into the open ocean. Over time, the calcium carbonate dissolves, and the macroalgae grows, fixing carbon via photosynthesis. Eventually, the entire system sinks into the deep ocean, where the fixed carbon is safely and permanently stored.

Life cycle analysis

Running Tide’s operations are grounded in the best available science and first principles engineering. The company’s research and data are shared with an independent external Scientific Advisory Board who review Running Tide’s systems and modeling, Environmental Impact Assessments, and quantification methodology. Running Tide aims to remove a megaton of CO₂ annually by 2025 and a gigaton annually by 2035. This scale is possible due the natural abundance of raw materials involved, and their use of pre-existing energy sources like gravity and photosynthesis.

Impact

Running Tide is one of many projects that we support - minimising the damage done to the environment and maximising the impact we can all have on climate change. It is important that everyone chooses to reduce their footprint and slow the emissions of dangerous greenhouse gases but combined with carbon removal projects such as this one, it is possible for us to fight and undo the climate crisis.

If you’re interested in supporting carbon removal projects like deep sea storage, please start a subscription today and sink your emissions to the bottom of the ocean.