Frontier is focused on making purchases today that increase the likelihood that we will have a low-cost, gigaton-scale portfolio of carbon removal in the future. Since Frontier began, we’ve explored which approaches have the highest potential, what makes a great project, and how to most effectively spend our funds. The pathway points-of-view below reflect this thinking and list the areas we are prioritizing for purchases this year.
Biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS) are processes that take biomass or organic waste, which contain carbon captured via photosynthesis, and durably store the embodied carbon.
Direct air capture (DAC) is the process of pulling CO₂ out of ambient air. It is a cyclical process in which a sorbent or solvent undergoes repeated cycles of CO₂ capture and release. The stream of CO₂ can then be coupled with geologic sequestration or mineralization for permanent carbon removal.
Enhanced weathering (EW) is a carbon removal process that speeds up the natural weathering of alkaline materials by spreading them in agricultural fields, releasing cations that capture and convert CO₂ into stable bicarbonate that is carried by watersheds and rivers into the ocean.
Mineralization is a carbon removal process that speeds up the natural carbonation of alkaline materials through capture and conversion of CO₂ into stable, durable carbonate compounds. These compounds can either be stored at the site of mineralization or utilized in the built environment.
Marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) includes a range of approaches that remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and store it in oceanic environments. Frontier’s mCDR purchases focus exclusively on abiotic pathways that use the inorganic ocean bicarbonate buffer system for durable carbon storage. Pathways in this category enhance the storage capacity of ocean water by either extracting CO₂ or addition of alkalinity for additional uptake of atmospheric CO₂.
