The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, published earlier last week, is a red alert for mankind. This warning light has been blinking for quite some time. The report unveils many findings that are sadly not surprising and places a strong judgement on our past and present leaders. It highlights what has been evident for decades: Climate change is happening and it is undeniably caused by humans. It is caused by our enormous emissions of greenhouse gasses, mainly carbon dioxide (CO₂), which is primarily from the burning of fossil fuels: coal, oil and gas.

The effects of climate change are already materializing, such as extreme weather conditions, rapid ocean acidification, and the increased melting of glaciers. Continued warming and an increased occurrence of extreme weather events will accompany further emissions. These are woeful facts with dire consequences. Future generations and ecosystems are, and will be, affected by the decisions of current authorities. The IPCC report confirms what must be done to mitigate the effects of climate change: Reduce emissions rapidly and achieve carbon-neutrality as soon as possible. 

Each tonne of CO₂ released into the atmosphere contributes to global warming. This fact must be emphasised whenever we are making decisions, wherever we are. It is in our hands to end the climate crisis . At present, the human population emits 40 gigatonnes of CO₂ each year - 40 billion tonnes of CO₂. To reach our climate goals and keep global warming within 1.5°C, we must cut our annual emissions world-wide in half by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality no later than 2050. 

The good news is that the solutions to reach these goals already exist. However, we need a massive collaborative effort to accelerate their deployment at an unprecedented rate for the safe keeping of humankind and Earth’s ecosystems. We need to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources, reduce consumption, reclaim ecosystems, and implement the circular economy. Where emissions cannot be avoided, we need to capture and safely store them – or alternatively reuse the CO₂ instead of releasing it into the atmosphere. Capture and storage of CO₂ is an integral part of the solution to the climate challenge, as the IPCC’s report and other scientific publications have stated. Carbon capture and storage technologies must be deployed to account for approximately 30% of emission reductions.

Carbfix has developed an environmentally-friendly and economic way of storing carbon, in collaboration with several universities and research institutes. The Carbfix technology dissolves CO₂ in water before injecting it underground into basaltic rocks, where natural processes transform it into solid carbonate minerals. In this way, CO₂ is permanently and safely locked away from the atmosphere, deep within the basaltic rocks. The Carbfix technology only requires three ingredients:

1. a suitable reactive rock formation,

2. a source of water,

3. a CO₂ emission source. 

Almost all of Iceland’s bedrock is well-suited for the application of the Carbfix technology. The technology can be used to reduce Iceland’s annual emissions from heavy industry and energy production by at least 2 million tonnes of CO₂within the next 10 years, thereby meeting and exceeding the goals of the Icelandic Climate Action Plan. Furthermore, Carbfix injects CO₂ captured directly from the atmosphere in collaboration with the green-tech company Climeworks. As the climate crisis is without borders, Carbfix plans to construct an import hub in Iceland that transports CO₂ from foreign industries by ships fuelled by renewable energy and safely stores it underground. In this way, we could establish a new, climate-friendly industry. We could store up to 10 million tonnes per year in Iceland, within the next 10 years, with important results for both the climate and the Icelandic economy.