Ocean-based carbon removal: Structural limits and community-led alternatives to industrial geoengineering
Original framing: “The ocean is fighting climate change: How people are trying to help it” — Phys.org
Scientific evidence suggests that ocean-based carbon removal methods, such as ocean alkalinity enhancement and iron fertilization, have significant ecological risks, including acidification, oxygen depletion, and disruption of marine food webs. Studies indicate that these methods may not be scalable or cost-effective, with potential carbon removal rates far below what is needed to meet climate targets. The focus on technical solutions also distracts from the need to reduce emissions at the source.
The narrative of ocean-based carbon removal as a climate solution exemplifies the extractive logic of industrial modernity, where complex ecosystems are reduced to technical problems to be engineered.
This framing obscures the historical and ongoing exploitation of the ocean by colonial and corporate forces, while sidelining the knowledge systems of Indigenous and local communities that have sustained marine ecosystems for generations. The scientific evidence suggests that such interventions carry significant ecological risks and may not be scalable, yet they are promoted as a way to delay necessary emissions reductions. Cross-cultural perspectives, such as Māori kaitiakitanga and Pacific Island tabu systems, offer alternative frameworks that prioritize reciprocity and long-term stewardship over short-term gains. The solution lies not in technological fixes, but in centering community-led conservation, regulating corporate interventions, and implementing just transition policies that address the root causes of ecological degradation.