All about biological CDR methods

Plants take up carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere and bind the carbon in biomass and soil. This natural process can be enhanced for climate mitigation purposes by reforesting forests or rewetting drained moors. This has many advantages: The methods can be used immediately and are cost-effective. Used correctly, they promote biodiversity and the resilience of nature. They also provide raw materials for generating energy from biomass and producing building materials. However, CDRterra research results show that they are not being implemented as widely as necessary. One reason for this is the increasing competition for land.

In the new factsheet „Mit der Kraft der Pflanzen: Biologische Verfahren zur CO₂-Entnahme aus der Atmosphäre“, we have clearly summarized the current state of technical development, advantages and disadvantages as well as social hurdles of the following CDR methods:

(re)afforestation of forests, other forest management measures and agroforestry
rewetting of peatlands
energy production from biomass with subsequent carbon capture and storage (BECCS)

Detailed information on this topic can be found in the new CDRterra factsheet (download on Zenodo):

Factsheet „Mit der Kraft der Pflanzen: Biologische Verfahren zur CO₂-Entnahme aus der Atmosphäre”

CDRterra factsheets: If you are interested in learning more about CO₂ removal

The factsheet „Kohlendioxidentnahmeverfahren an Land – wie sie funktionieren und warum wir sie brauchen, um unsere Klimaziele zu erreichen” provides a general overview of CDR methods.

The factsheet „Die Kohlenstoffspeicherung unserer Böden steigern“ provides information on the potential, technical development status and advantages and disadvantages of CO₂ removal methods using soils.

You can find out more about the feasibility, potential and risks of new chemical-technical CDR methods in the factsheet “Neue technische Verfahren zur CO₂-Entnahme aus der Atmosphäre”.

Das factsheet “Die Bedeutung einer gezielten CO₂-Entnahme für die Zukunft des Europäischen Emissionshandelssystems (ETS)” discusses the implementation of CDR in the ETS.