Italian startup limenet is fighting ocean acidification while sequestering CO2

illuminem summarizes for you the essential news of the day. Read the full piece on Carbon Herald or enjoy below

🗞️ Driving the news: The rise in human-emitted CO2 is exacerbating ocean acidity, affecting marine biodiversity, and posing direct threats to human survival
• To tackle this, companies like Limenet are developing innovative solutions to restore ocean alkalinity and mitigate the crisis

🔭 The context: Our oceans' pH has decreased from a pre-industrial level of 8.2 to 8.1, indicating a 30% surge in acidity
• With these rates, by 2045, the pH might drop to 7.95, causing a potential loss of 80%-90% of marine life biodiversity

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: A pH drop to 7.8 can lead to the dissolution of marine creatures' shells and bones, heavily threatening ecosystems and putting in danger 2 billion people reliant on the ocean for food and livelihood

⏭️ What's next: Limenet, an Italy-based startup, has patented a method to combat ocean acidification involving storing CO2 in balanced calcium bicarbonates and adding them to seawater, enhancing its alkalinity
• They've already proven their concept at a pilot plant, and plans are afoot to scale their operations

💬 One quote: "I have more fear not to do anything than trying to do something... What is happening to the ocean is crazy bad" (Stefano Cappello, CEO of Limenet)

📈 One stat: Current projections indicate that if the ocean's pH drops to 7.95 by 2045, it could result in the loss of 80% to 90% of marine life biodiversity, drastically affecting ecosystems and human survival

Click for more news covering the latest on carbon