Harnessing Nature
Project Vesta’s approach dramatically accelerates Earth's natural longterm CO2 removal process. We make green-sand beaches with a highly abundant volcanic mineral, olivine. We acquire nearby olivine and transport it to beaches where wave action speeds up the carbon dioxide capture process, while also de-acidifying the ocean.
Acquire Olivine
A green mineral that can help reverse climate change by naturally removing CO2.
Make a Green Sand Beach
Olivine is transported to nearby beaches and coastlines
Use the Motion of the Ocean
Natural wave energy does the rest, breaking down the olivine so it removes CO2
To the Sea Bed
CO2 is captured in the water and in limestone rocks at the bottom of the ocean
Nature's Way
The Carbonate-Silicate Cycle
More than 99.9% of CO2 on Earth is stored in rock. This occured over billions of years through a process known as the carbonate-silicate cycle.
When rain falls on volcanic rocks and washes them into the ocean, it causes a reaction over long time-scales that removes CO2 from the atmosphere, fixes it into rock. As that rock erodes and trickles down into waterways that eventually trickle into the ocean, it becomes permanently fixed in limestone at the bottom of the ocean.
The Carbon Dioxide Removal Reaction
30 Years of Research
Thirty years of scientific research has demonstrated that this works and has provided strong evidence that it is a highly affordable and scalable solution. The process captures 20 times more carbon dioxide than the extraction and transportation of the olivine. If deployed on just 2% of global shelf seas, this approach could capture 100% of annual human emissions.
