Subscribe now

Columnist and Environment

Could seaweed be the ultimate carbon capture solution?

Our Future Chronicles column explores an imagined history of inventions and developments yet to come. In our latest glimpse into the near future, Rowan Hooper tells how seaweed was a game changer when it came to getting carbon out of the atmosphere in the 2030s

By Rowan Hooper

6 November 2024

2M2WTDW Islands of floating algae. Seaweed Brown Sargassum floating on surface of the water, sun's rays breaking through the thick grass. Underwater shot

An island of floating brown Sargassum seaweed

Andrey Nekrasov/Alamy

The big question, in the mid-21st century, wasn’t how to transition away from fossil fuels – that process became self-propelling as renewable energy became ever cheaper – but how to get carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

In the end, achieving the Great Drawdown, as it became known, required many different approaches, including biological, chemical and technological methods of removal. This dispatch examines two solutions that used the under-appreciated, near-magical power of seaweed: one through robotics and the other through bioengineering. The robot ate vast algal blooms; the genetic engineering approach modified a…

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox! We'll also keep you up to date with New Scientist events and special offers.

Sign up

To continue reading, subscribe today with our introductory offers

Unlock this article

No commitment, cancel anytime*

Offer ends 15 January 2025.

*Cancel anytime within 14 days of payment to receive a refund on unserved issues.

Inclusive of applicable taxes (VAT)

or

Existing subscribers

Sign in to your account