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A scientific consensus has been building momentum against ocean iron fertilization as a means of CO2 drawdown

The debate surrounding the efficacy and potential risks of artificial ocean iron fertilization has been a topic of significant interest within the scientific community. While the reasoning behind this proposed climate change mitigation strategy is sound, with the understanding that iron is a limiting nutrient for phytoplankton growth in certain ocean regions, the complex implications of large-scale iron fertilization have led to a scientific consensus against its implementation.1234

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Footnotes​

  1. Buesseler, K. O., Doney, S. C., Karl, D. M., Boyd, P. W., Caldeira, K., Chai, F., Coale, K. H., de Baar, H. J. W., Falkowski, P. G., Johnson, K. S., Lampitt, R. S., Michaels, A. F., Naqvi, S. W. A., Smetacek, V., Takeda, S., & Watson, A. (2008, January). Ocean iron fertilization–Moving forward in a sea of uncertainty. Science, 319(5860), 162-162. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1154305 ↩

  2. McGovan, J. (2024, January). Iron fertilization isn’t going to save us. Hakai Magazine. https://hakaimagazine.com/news/iron-fertilization-isnt-going-to-save-us/ ↩

  3. Tagliabue, A., Twining, B. S., Barrier, N., Maury, O., Berger, M., & Bopp, L. (2023, July). Ocean iron fertilization may amplify climate change pressures on marine animal biomass for limited climate benefit. Global Change Biology, 29(18), 5250-5260. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/gcb.16854 ↩

  4. Emerson, D., Sofen, L. E., Michaud, A. B., Archer, S. D., & Twining, B. S. (2024, March). A cost model for ocean iron fertilization as a means of carbon dioxide removal that compares ship- and aerial-based delivery, and estimates verification costs. Earth’s Future, 12(4), e2023EF003732. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2023EF003732 ↩