Enhanced Rock Weathering

Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) is an agronomic practice that permanently removes atmospheric carbon dioxide and brings concrete benefits to farmers, with particular promise for livelihoods in the Global South. ERW has potential to play a key role in both the world’s long-term durable carbon removal portfolio and sustainable agricultural toolkit. We have worked to catalyze a deployment-driven learning cycle in ERW to steadily build a robust evidence base, public trust, and policy support as the field grows. Cascade has led the following initiatives in ERW:

HIGHLIGHTS

Data sharing system to advance scientific research

To unlock a virtuous cycle of deployment-led learning, we are piloting the first-ever ERW data sharing system, the ERW Data Quarry, that connects researchers to data from commercial ERW deployments.

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ERW Metal Accumulation Calculator

We developed a free-to-use maximally conservative mass-balance model for assessing the risk of metal accumulation in soils.

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ERW Field Data Partnership Grant Awardees

In collaboration with the Grantham Foundation, Google, and Frontier, we are excited to announce the awardees for our ERW Field Data Partnership Grants: over $1.2M in funding across 9 projects.

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Policy priorities for ERW

We advance policies that support ERW innovation, provide financial assistance for responsible scale-up, and increase confidence of carbon removal buyers and investors to enter the market.

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Foundations for CDR Quantification in ERW Deployments

After a year-long process involving over 100 stakeholders, we produced a comprehensive technical reference on the “hows” of rigorous carbon removal quantification in an ERW deployment.

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ERW MRV cost estimator and database

We built a tool to help inform practitioners of the stacked costs of different analytical measurement choices in an ERW deployment, as well as a database of cost quotes to help practitioners compare costs for leverage.

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Super Pollutant Mitigation

We are now expanding our work to address the urgent risks associated with near-term warming. Cascade is focused on accelerating super pollutant mitigation efforts by building a bridge from early, voluntary climate private finance toward a policy-driven end state that embeds accountability for super pollutant reductions within industry value chains and national greenhouse gas inventories.

Cascade is beginning work in this area by learning from—and building trusted relationships with—those who have been doing great work in this domain for years. As highlighted in our initial blog post, we see opportunities for Cascade to play a complementary role and to bring to bear lessons from the analogous journey that durable CDR has begun in recent years.

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Super Pollutant Mitigation Needs a Bigger Push—And We're Joining the Effort

Meeting the climate challenge requires cutting super pollutants for near-term impact while scaling carbon removal for the long term. Cascade is expanding its work to advance this dual strategy.

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