Carbon Mineralization Needs Greater Policy Support to Reach Carbon Removal Potential

This briefing from the World Resources Institute argues that carbon mineralization requires increased and customized federal policy support to reach its potential for large-scale carbon removal. While some funding exists through broad carbon removal initiatives, the document highlights a gap in dedicated support compared to technologies like direct air capture and outlines necessary advancements in research, deployment incentives, and safety regulations to scale the technology responsibly.

• Carbon mineralization has the potential to remove significant amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere, with scientific estimates suggesting it could remove up to 1 gigaton annually by 2035 and 10 gigatons by 2050.
• Carbon mineralization offers several co-benefits beyond carbon removal, including the ability to strengthen concrete, remediate asbestos mine tailings, reduce ocean acidification, increase crop productivity, and extract critical minerals like cobalt, nickel, and lithium from mine tailings.
• Current U.S. federal policy support for mineralization is limited compared to direct air capture. While eligible for some broad funding, mineralization lacks dedicated funding streams and faces limitations under the 45Q tax credit, which provides a lower credit for utilization (such as in cement) than for sequestration and does not include in situ mineralization in its definition of "secure geologic storage."
• To achieve large-scale viability, the document argues for increased government funding for research and development to reduce uncertainties regarding resource mapping, reaction rates, and ecosystem impacts, as well as funding for demonstration projects to test materials in diverse environments.
• Deployment of carbon mineralization could be accelerated through government procurement, expanded production tax credits (such as an expanded 45Q), regulatory accommodations for land use and soil amendments, and mandates for companies with alkaline waste to leverage it for carbon removal.
• Responsible scaling requires improving Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV), particularly for "open-system" approaches like ocean alkalinity enhancement and enhanced rock weathering, which are more difficult to monitor than "closed-system" approaches.
• Scaling mineralization responsibly necessitates strict regulations to manage hazardous materials, such as heavy metals in mine tailings and the health risks associated with inhaling respirable silica dust during the application of alkaline feedstocks to fields.

APA

World Resources Institute (2023). Carbon Mineralization Needs Greater Policy Support to Reach Carbon Removal Potential. https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/carbon-mineralization-policies-incentives

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Carbon Mineralization Needs Greater Policy Support to Reach Carbon Removal Potential. 2023. https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/carbon-mineralization-policies-incentives.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Carbon Mineralization Needs Greater Policy Support to Reach Carbon Removal Potential |date=17 October 2023 |url=https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/carbon-mineralization-policies-incentives |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitute2023carbon, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Carbon Mineralization Needs Greater Policy Support to Reach Carbon Removal Potential}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2023}, month = oct, url = {https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/carbon-mineralization-policies-incentives}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }