The ocean presents significant potential to contribute to carbon dioxide removal, which is needed — in addition to deeply reducing emissions across all sectors — to reach national and global climate goals. The ocean already absorbs more than a quarter of human-caused emissions each year, dampening the impacts of climate change, and in total holds more than 40 times the carbon in the atmosphere.

 Many approaches have been proposed to increase the ocean’s carbon uptake, and while some have been tested, much more research is needed to understand which are most effective and what impacts they have on people and the environment.

The Removing and Sequestering Carbon Unleashed in the Environment and Oceans Act, or ReSCUE Ocean Act, re-introduced today by Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Reps. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) and Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.), would provide important funding and support for answering these questions.

The bipartisan bill, which has support from both chambers of Congress, would provide direction and funding to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to lead and coordinate research on marine carbon dioxide removal while leveraging capacities at the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

What Will the ReSCUE Ocean Act Do?

The bill would create an interagency working group at the National Science and Technology Council, under the Subcommittee on Ocean Science, and provide direction to NOAA, NSF, NASA and NIST. The working group would include representatives from 20 government agencies and offices with representatives from NOAA and the Department of Energy serving as co-chairs. Its key responsibilities would include:

Establish a plan within 90 days of the bill’s enactment to coordinate federal research on marine carbon dioxide removal.Establish and standardize the implementation of a code of conduct within one year of the bill’s enactment.Support research, coordinate funding and ensure compliance with existing law.Make recommendations for selection of priority research areas.As relevant, make recommendations related to shifting from research to operations and integration of marine carbon dioxide removal into voluntary carbon markets.Publish a report summarizing progress, key findings, research priorities and knowledge gaps within two years of the bill’s enactment and every two years after that.

Among the four agencies covered, most of the bill focuses on NOAA. It requires NOAA to create a program that advances the scientific understanding of marine carbon dioxide removal, including efficacy, environmental impacts and social impacts. It then directs this information to be used to:

Develop best practices for measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification.Determine ecosystem impact thresholds.Recommend marine carbon dioxide removal approaches that could be safe and effective for larger-scale deployment.Evaluate the sustainability of marine carbon dioxide removal approaches.Analyze commercialization pathways.

These objectives would be carried out through a competitive grant program with at least $10,000 of the authorized funding required to be used for community engagement. Funding could be awarded to universities; national labs; state, local or tribal governments; or other private or public entities. Throughout the bill there is an emphasis on engagement with Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations. 

Along with this, the bill requires the creation of greater monitoring capacity (infrastructure and personnel) to minimize negative ecosystem and community impacts and maximize co-benefits.

Additionally, the bill would allow the creation of designated research areas for marine carbon dioxide removal. These would include federally administered areas for lab, mesocosm or field trials with the benefit of coordinated permitting and use of sensing networks for monitoring. Each research area would also have an advisory board with diverse representation.

Beyond NOAA, the bill would direct:

NSF to contribute to grantmaking to advance scientific knowledge of the efficacy and impacts of marine carbon dioxide removal and expand NSF capacity related to marine carbon dioxide removal.NASA to leverage existing capacities to advance understanding of marine carbon dioxide removal, particularly through enhancing monitoring and modeling programs.NIST to help standardize benchmark materials, measurements, data and models to innovate and validate marine carbon dioxide removal approaches. NIST would also be directed to engage international bodies to promote global adoption of the standards.

Across all four agencies, funding amounts will be determined at a later date.

Why Is the ResCUE Ocean Act So Important?

Without public support, research for marine carbon dioxide removal would be left largely to the private sector, which may not be sufficiently resourced to undertake the level of research and testing needed and may face conflicting priorities in response to investors.  

Carbon dioxide removal provides a public good of atmospheric clean-up and includes a suite of early-stage technologies that requires more research and testing to better understand efficacy and environmental and social impacts. Both of these factors underscore the need for greater public research funding.

Additionally, responsible development and deployment of marine carbon dioxide removal will require careful evaluation of potential tradeoffs and engagement with coastal communities, among other considerations.

The type of public support and coordinated interagency research effort included in the ReSCUE Ocean Act will be critical to resolving scientific uncertainties and helping determine which approaches are suitable for scaling and under which conditions —ultimately creating a solid foundation of scientific understanding from which to operate.