GHG-R Flagship Destination

Global Worming
The natural path to greenhouse gas removal

Team: Jane Willenbring, Alison Hoyt

Terrestrial Natural Solution for GHG removal - Agricultural and biological systems, such as soil and urban organic waste, have high potential to draw down carbon dioxide. This team aims to harness earthworms, which have influenced soils and carbon cycling during their 150 million years of evolution, to capture CO₂ while providing an organic waste solution. Worms can sequester carbon in four ways: enhance the weathering of silicate minerals, convert carbon from alterable to stable forms, shift emissions from methane (which has a high global warming potential) to CO₂ (which has a lower GWP), and convert waste into high-value compost that can substitute for higher-emission fertilizers. 

We will demonstrate that worms can enhance the weathering of rocks, optimize carbon sequestration, and amend soil in composting systems. After de-risking the technology, we will pilot it in municipal composting industries to demonstrate that it works at scale. This intervention could make it possible to capture 300 million tons of CO₂ per year per million square kilometers.