While reducing net anthropogenic CO2 emissions must remain the number one solution to combat ocean acidification and climate change, limiting global warming to below 2°C by 2100 cannot be achieved without approaches that remove atmospheric CO2, a process known as carbon dioxide removal (CDR) (IPCC, 2018).
Marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) refers to methods that harness the ocean to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, including nature-based and technical solutions. A priority of the OA-ICC is to promote responsible and transparent research on the impacts of mCDR techniques such as ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE).
Ocean alkalinity enhancement is an mCDR method that has the potential to increase the ocean’s capacity to absorb atmospheric CO2 by changing ocean chemistry through the addition of alkaline materials, such as lime or olivine. OAE also has the potential to locally mitigate ocean acidification, but the impacts this technique may have on marine life are poorly understood.
The OA-ICC is equipping researchers to generate much needed information about the potential risks to marine life associated with OAE. This builds upon the OA-ICC’s efforts to increase technical capacity to monitor the marine carbonate chemistry system and discern biological impacts of changing ocean chemistry.
In April 2025, the OA-ICC held an inaugural training course on assessing the biological impacts to OAE, building on the 2023 Guide to Best Practices in Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement Research. Moving forward, the Centre will hold additional training courses and support continued development of best practices and methodology to generate comparable OAE data, to foster an inclusive research community on this topic, and to inform sound and safe policy decisions on these technologies.