Innovation for Cool Earth Forum (ICEF) Announces Roadmap at COP26 for Leveraging Untapped Potential of Carbon Mineralization

TOKYO, Nov. 24, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — The ICEF roadmap was presented at an official side event of the UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) and it discussed “Pathways to Carbon Neutrality by 2050” with cohosted organizations: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM).

At the Japan Pavilion of the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26), the roadmap launching event was held, where “Industrial, governmental and academic initiatives to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050” were discussed with speakers from CEM CCUS Initiatives, Columbia University and Hitachi.

-ICEF roadmap “Carbon Mineralization”

Each year, ICEF (*) focuses on a technology that is expected to contribute significantly to long-term net-zero emissions and creates a roadmap.

(*) ICEF is an international platform led by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) since 2014. The mission is to solve the problem of climate change through innovative measures. This year’s ICEF session was held as part of “Tokyo ‘Beyond-Zero’ Week.”

The latest roadmap features carbon mineralization, a natural process in which carbon dioxide (CO2) becomes bound in rocks as a solid mineral, permanently removing CO2 from the atmosphere.

In this natural process, certain types of rocks react with CO2 and water, fixing CO2 as a harmless mineral without using energy. Carbon mineralization could be implemented in dozens of countries around the world because cement and industrial waste such as steel slag can also be used in addition to natural ores found in various countries. Ground ores sprinkled onto soils are expected to accelerate the carbon mineralization process and produce secondary benefits as fertilizers and soil improvers for farmland. With global CO2 emissions currently about 33.5 billion tons (*), it is estimated that carbon mineralization could reduce CO2 by several billion tons by 2050.

(*) EDMC Handbook of Japan’s & World Energy & Economic Statistics 2021: emissions in 2018.

SOURCE ICEF Secretariat