Last year Planetary Technologies won the Carbon Xprize Milestone award for their ocean-based CDR method. That same year they started testing their ocean alkalinity enhancement process in a small trial in England, partnering with the local water company. The test showed improved alkalinity and reduced CO2 in local waters. Now the company plans to do a longer, 120-day test this summer, hoping to remove 200 net tons of CO2 from the water.

Planetary has conducted public outreach about their plan, and published a public code of conduct laying out how they intend to make the experiments safe. 

But last month protesters gathered at Gwithian beach in North Cornwall, expressing concerns about the potential impact on the bay's marine ecosystem. 

In a Guardian article about the project Mike Kelland CEO of Planetary Technologies said “People often say to me: ‘You wouldn’t want to swim in this stuff, would you?’ But the answer is that we already do because it’s already widely used in wastewater management.” 

He said that the company would be transparent and diligent in their evaluations and monitoring during the study. 

Joining us on this episode are two people who are working firsthand on the issues of public acceptability and community outreach that we’ve set out to explore CRN- Will Burt, Chief Ocean Scientist at Planetary and Pete Chargin, Planetary’s VP of Commercialization and Community Relations. 

On This Episode

Will Burt

Pete Chargin

Radhika Moolgavkar

Resources

Planetary Technologies

Milestone award

Planetary’s public code of conduct

Guardian article on Planetary’s proposal

Connect with Nori

Nori

Nori’s Twitter

Nori’s other podcast Reversing Climate Change

Nori’s CDR meme twitter account