Sustainability performance of enhanced weathering across countries

ABSTRACT

Enhanced weathering (EW) is a promising negative emission technology involving the application of crushed silicate rocks to croplands for carbon capture. There is limited research about the broad sustainability impacts in rolling out this intervention on a large scale. This research assesses the triple bottom line sustainability of EW in eight top-emitting countries using an extended input-output model. Results indicate that overall sustainability performance of EW is influenced by each country’s environmental and social metrics than the economic. Compared to developed countries (UK, France, Germany, USA), emerging economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China) show relatively lower economic sustainability due to high working hours impact but benefit from higher socio-economic contributions. Improving practices, particularly reducing emissions, energy use, labour rights and health and safety risk for silicate rock production, is vital for better sustainability outcomes.