Coastal Carbon Capture is a way to harness the power of the oceans to accelerate the Earth's natural long-term carbon dioxide removal process and enhance coastal resilience.
Vesta is a Public Benefit Corporation, a mission-driven company dedicated to leaving a world in which all can thrive. We prioritize the needs of the planet and the communities in which we work over profit.
Part of the funding for our scientific research is from the Coastal Carbon Capture Development Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity.
Vesta’s approach accelerates the carbon removal part of the carbonate-silicate cycle, which is an ancient natural process.
Our primary method for doing this is Coastal Carbon Capture, in which we add the natural mineral olivine, milled down to beach-compatible sand, to coastal protection projects. There, it gradually dissolves in the seawater, reducing ocean acidity and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
Thirty years of scientific research point to this working and provide evidence that it could be a highly affordable and scalable way to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The process captures up to 20 times more carbon dioxide than is emitted from the extraction and transportation of the olivine. While we are currently operating at a small scale, we calculate that deploying olivine in 0.1%-0.25% of global shelf seas could be sufficient to remove 1 billion tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere.
Our mission is to further the science of coastal enhanced weathering to determine whether large scale deployment is warranted. To that end, we have been conducting lab experiments and modeling studies, and planning the first field pilots of Coastal Carbon Capture at a number of sites in the United States.
Such field pilots will only proceed if several gating factors are met, including i) successful completion of EPA-standard ecotoxicology testing, ii) receiving all applicable regulatory approvals, iii) support from the local communities at pilot sites.
All scientists in the field are welcome to contribute to the design of these experiments, and to analyze the resulting data.
Once we have finished the experiments and published the data, we hope to deliver to the world a blueprint and integrated model for deploying olivine in coastal areas.
The Enhanced Weathering Integrated Assessment Model (EWIAM) will enable any government or private organization to safely deploy Coastal Carbon Capture and measurably remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
One of the clearest injustices of the climate crisis is that those who contribute the least to the problem suffer the brunt of it. The worst effects are being felt by underserved, lower-income communities around the world, including certain coastal communities.
A considerable gap remains in scientific understanding of public perceptions of negative emissions technologies, particularly within developing countries.
It is crucial that equality and justice are at the heart of any attempt to tackle climate change.
Vesta has developed a justice-based approach to partner with coastal communities through participatory governance frameworks that proactively integrate multi-stakeholder perspectives.
We involve local coastal communities in decision-making
At all potential deployment sites, we engage with the local community before we study the ocean. In consultation with experts - both academics and practitioners - we have developed a process for building relationships with people from the local community, listening to their perspectives, and involving them in decision-making.
We seek to reduce injustice and inequity
Vesta wishes to have a positive impact in the communities in which we work. We avoid assuming that we know that means to the people in those communities; instead, we ask.
In addition to employing people in community engagement, Vesta employs other skilled workers to help manage the Vesta Research Station. Vesta funds local conservation nonprofits to undertake collaborative scientific research. In addition, Vesta is supporting local students in science by offering internships where they can learn state-of-the-art scientific techniques.
We seek to advance society’s understanding of perceptions of Ocean CDR and give a voice to the under-served
There is very little social science research examining perceptions of Ocean CDR, particularly of those in the Global South disproportionately vulnerable to climate risks. Since Vesta hopes to conduct Coastal Carbon Capture in a variety of countries, we aim to close that gap and ensure the perspectives of under-represented communities are included in the peer-reviewed literature.
Vesta is working in collaboration with scientific collaborators and local community engagement experts to conduct social science research at potential deployment sites, including in the Global South. We plan to publish comparative research examining how perceptions and concerns of Ocean CDR and Coastal Carbon Capture vary across countries.
Vesta was born out of a climate change think-tank called Climitigation. This group investigated as many carbon capture solutions as possible, searching for one that had received too little attention and investment.
Climitigation found that coastal enhanced weathering was a process with enormous potential for cheap, permanent carbon capture at massive scale. Further, they found that the technology was stuck in the lab, despite real-life beach pilots being the clear next step.
No one was bringing together the combination of multidisciplinary science, government support, funding, and sheer force of will that would help this technology ‘cross the chasm’ between theory and maturity. Vesta was founded to do exactly this.
We would like to thank:
The late Dr. Olaf Schuiling for coming up with the concept of coastal enhanced weathering with olivine. A major part of his life's work was dedicated to this research in service of mitigating climate change.
Eric Matzner for articulating a global vision for scaling coastal enhanced weathering. Eric led the formation of Vesta and worked tirelessly to take Olaf’s work to the next level.
If we have seen further, it is because we stand on the shoulders of visionaries like these two. We are grateful for their insight, passion, and dedication.
We consider the entire life-cycle of the impacts of this nature-based solution. We aim to capture 20 times the CO2 we emit. We measure the ecological effects of our entire process from quarries to coastlines, and wherever possible seek to have a regenerative effect on the ecosystems and communities we touch.
We hold our research to the highest standards. All of our ongoing modeling and laboratory experiments will be published in peer-reviewed journals upon completion. Coastal Carbon Capture will be implemented in a natural environment, which necessitates the utmost care. Our ongoing research with different scientists across various institutions will serve as the necessary foundation prior to studies in the field.
Scale is paramount. We believe that to have a serious impact, solutions must be able to remove at least a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. Our goal is to achieve at least that.
This immense challenge requires extensive collaboration. We work with the global scientific community to publish peer reviewed research. We partner with local communities, governments, NGOs, academic institutions, and the private sector to advance the field with the ultimate goal of safe global deployment.
We will accomplish our mission by using the power of natural wave energy in coastal areas. Today, we know that reducing carbon dioxide emissions alone will not be enough to solve the climate crisis: we need to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Fortunately, nature already has a way, billions of years old, to do this – by weathering volcanic minerals. When rain falls on volcanic rocks and washes them into the ocean, this causes a reaction which removes CO2 from the atmosphere and locks it up in limestone at the bottom of the ocean.
The team would like to thank R.D. Schuiling and Poppe De Boer, whose passion for olivine weathering and insightful research provided significant inspiration for the Vesta vision, and whose work in many ways continues to guide this promising field.
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