Humanity has limited time to curb global warming and minimize future climate disasters. As efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are often tepid, scientists and business leaders are looking for realistic ways to remove carbon from the atmosphereWhile futuristic, high-tech proposals—like vacuuming pollutants from the sky—have attracted attention, they often fail to live up to expectations. But now attention is turning to a much simpler, low-tech approach: collecting logs, branches, wood chips and sawdust and burying them.

This approach, called "wood vaults" or "biomass burial," has the potential to remove carbon from the atmosphere. 12 billion tons of carbon dioxide per yearAccording to a recent study in the journal Nature Geoscience this method could reduce global warming by more than a third of a degree Celsius (more than half a degree Fahrenheit). While that difference sounds small, preventing warming by a few tenths of a degree could prevent the complete breakup of polar ice caps and the collapse of coral reefs.

How does a wooden vault work?

The concept of a wooden vault is remarkably simple. Instead of building massive machines, wooden vaults seek to divert materials from the Earth's rapid biological carbon cycle into a much slower geological carbon cycle.

Land plants alone capture six times more carbon each year than our fossil fuel emissions. But almost all of this carbon is returned to the atmosphere when leaves and trees die and decompose. But if the wood is only buried under a few meters of soil, bacteria lack the oxygen needed to decompose woody tissue, releasing little or no carbon. Especially in clay soils, wood can remain stable for millennia; in 2013, a red cedar log was found preserved in clay for 3,775 years.

Huge potential

To keep the increase in global temperature below two degrees Celsius, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has set a target of eliminating 10 billion tons of carbon per year by 2050. A new study shows that global logging alone provides more than enough wood to meet this goal.

While trees in forests targeted for logging absorb approximately 170 billion tons of carbon per year, 14 billion tons is used to make wood. All of this wood waste—branches, sawdust, discarded furniture, and demolished houses—will eventually end up wasted. If all of these 14 billion tons of carbon could be collected and buried instead of burning or decomposing, it would be safely removed every year. Models suggest that by 2100, this would remove a total of at least 770 billion tons, which would lower the global thermostat by at least 0.35°C.

Implementation in practice

Collecting debris from timber and forestry projects is feasible. Several startups are already testing this method:

1. Woodcache in Colorado collects and buries forest thinning debris, reducing the risk of fires. Their first commercial project is to prevent the release of more than 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide.
2. Reforestation ointment in Montana, he buried burned trees that were originally intended for burning. In the first phase, they removed an estimated 5,000 tons of carbon.
3. Carbon Lockdown (the company of climatologist Ning Zeng) has a project underway with a capacity of 5,000 tons.

Although more research is needed, companies are designing their safes to include monitoring devices. methane escaping from the soil surfaceAbnormally high values could indicate unexpectedly rapid decomposition, which would require redesign of the vault.

Compared to complex and futuristic climate technologies, burying wood faces fewer potential obstacles. Communities are much more likely to support something they perceive as natural than the extensive pipeline networks required for other methods. As Holly Jean Buck, an environmental social scientist, aptly noted: “What if the answer was just to dig a hole and put some wood in it? Even a kindergarten student could figure that out."While careful monitoring and accurate carbon calculations are needed, the simplicity and potential of wooden vaults represent a promising path to climate stabilization." CO2AI