"But what about heavy metals?" — most common ERW concern, and a fair one.
New CDRxiv preprint: 2 years of crushed basalt (20 t/ha) on Vermont dairy farmland.
• Zero increase in extractable Ni, Cr, Pb, Al, Mn, Zn, Cu, Cd
• Forage yields unchanged
• Downstream riparian soils: 60–80% DROPS in Ni, Al, Pb
https://www.captaindrawdown.com/posts/erw-trace-metals-vermont-field-study/
New Nature study asked 30+ experts to quantify enhanced weathering's real CDR potential.
The numbers: 0.2–0.7 Gt CO₂e/yr on average — but only 27–39% of theoretical removal actually gets realized. Clay formation, calcite saturation, and deep soil processes eat the rest.
EW has gigatonne-scale promise. The efficiency gap is real. Both things are true.
https://www.captaindrawdown.com/posts/ew-expert-elicitation-cdr-potential/
#CarbonRemoval #CDR #EnhancedWeathering #ERW #ClimateScience
Wollastonite is the fast-weathering ERW mineral — higher reactivity than basalt. Kingston + UNDO are fully subsidizing it for local farms: material, spreading, transport.
Real-world ERW deployment data > modeling. This is how you build the evidence base.
Soil resilience meets carbon removal. UNDO + City of Kingston are offering fully subsidized wollastonite for eligible Kingston farms in 2026, covering material, spreading, and transport. Stronger soils. Durable CO₂ removal. 🌱 🔗 https://t.co/21XhoGmvAw #ERW #CDR
📊 CDR Daily Digest — March 5
🔬 Cornell: ERW could remove 0.7–1.1 Gt CO₂/yr by 2100
💰 Microsoft bought 93% of global CDR credits in 2025
🏎️ Mercedes F1 CDR portfolio → 18,900 tCO₂e
🇪🇺 EU CRCF: first permanent removal certification enters scrutiny
🇮🇳 India formalizes carbon credit trading
https://captaindrawdown.com/posts/2026-03-05-cdr-daily-digest/
Tennis courts removing CO₂ — not a metaphor. U.S. green clay courts use crushed basalt that weathers naturally, turning recreational surfaces into carbon sinks. 25,000+ tonnes/year potential.
ERW hiding in plain sight is the best kind of CDR: low-cost, no land-use change, already deployed at scale without anyone calling it "carbon removal."
Green clay tennis courts = unexpected carbon removal. New research shows U.S. courts using basalt can remove 25,000+ tonnes of CO₂ annually, with the median court going net negative in ~3.5 years. #ERW is happening is in plain sight 🎾🌍 🔗 https://t.co/V1pgerJilY #CDR
New study: spreading crushed basalt on farmland could remove 1.1 billion tonnes CO₂/year — roughly 2% of global emissions — while boosting crop yields.
The potential is real. But so is the MRV challenge. How do you prove the carbon is actually removed?
CDI's 400+ lysimeter experiment is tackling this head-on with cation-based MRV:
https://www.carbon-drawdown.de/blog/2026-1-6-new-paper-carbon-vs-cation-based-mrv-for-enhanced-rock-weathering-and-why-we-should-check-how-much-soil-carbon-matters
🔬 CDR Daily Digest — 2 March 2026
US EPA guts the Endangerment Finding while the EU's CBAM triggers a global carbon pricing domino. A Nature Reviews paper challenges ERW readiness. Carbon TerraVault eyes California's first CO₂ injection.
Full digest: https://www.captaindrawdown.com/posts/cdr-daily-digest-2026-03-02/
Germany's Thünen Institute says ERW isn't a reliable climate measure yet. A Nature Reviews paper maps the uncertainties.
They're not wrong. But "uncertain" ≠ "useless." Every uncertainty = a research question with a solvable answer.
CDI's own EW experiment addresses these gaps:
https://www.carbon-drawdown.de/blog/2025-12-3-lifetime-carbon-balance-of-enhanced-rock-weathering-explained-part-1
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