Greenhouse gas removal with UK agriculture via enhanced rock weathering

要履行英国在2050年前实现净零碳排放的义务，需要在几十年内利用温室气体清除（GGR）技术捕获和储存每年约1.3亿吨CO2当量（CO2当量）的残余排放。我们面临的挑战是在不付出重大经济代价的情况下实现本世纪中叶严格的减排目标。增强岩石风化（ERW）是一种GGR技术，其基础是用富含钙和镁的硅酸盐岩石破碎物改良土壤，以加速天然CO2固存过程，同时为作物生产、粮食安全和土壤健康带来共同效益。ERW-GGR演示器将首次对英国农业中部署ERW的科学、社会和可扩展性机遇和挑战进行综合性全系统评估。它将评估战争遗留爆炸物消除联合王国10%的GGR净零目标的潜力，方法是在可耕地和覆盖联合王国74%已利用农业面积（约1，300万公顷）的各类草地上测试该目标的执行情况。潜在的共同效益包括通过减少土壤酸度提高生产力，用耗尽的植物必需矿物质营养补充土壤，通过增加二氧化硅吸收提高作物对害虫和病原体的抵抗力，以及减少土壤一氧化二氮通量。这些共同效益的量化将为促进早期采用和加快标准农业实践的发展提供证据。我们将通过一个创造性、创新性和令人兴奋的跨学科合作计划来应对利用破碎硅酸盐岩石（玄武岩）开发ERW-GGR的挑战，该计划包括四个相互关联的工作包：WP 1）代表联合王国主要土地用途的大规模集水区、实地或小块试验，包括全面的温室气体预算，WP 2）公众参与、社会接受性和战争遗留爆炸物作为一种GGR技术的负责任的创新，WP 3）供应链生命周期评估和可扩展性案例研究，演示器后5年和15-20年的部署方案路线图，WP4）开发和应用一个先进的建模框架，以现实地评估GGR与联合王国农业及其对农业经济的影响。在三个全国重要的旗舰实地站点上开发了长期基线数据集。Plynlimon实验集水区（威尔士中部）形成了英国运行时间最长的集水区研究设施，40年的监测数据来自两对集水区，主要是高地草原，子集水区位于相同的基岩和土壤上。在英格兰，我们将利用两个核心的BBSRC设施：罗森斯特德研究的北怀克草原实验平台，德文郡，和他们的尖端耕地研究设施在哈彭登。我们的跨学科方案融合了自然科学和社会科学，前者确定在联合王国耕地和牧场部署的环境效益和风险，后者有助于深入了解公众对战争遗留爆炸物的看法和当地社区对战争遗留爆炸物的接受程度。我们将在WP之间开展工作，为战争遗留爆炸物在英国农业中大规模运作建立一个社会许可证，并为示范者制定一个负责任的研究和创新计划。我们正在计划三个示范者主导的活动，政策简报，以及与农业和园艺发展委员会的外联活动，以促进学术，商业和政策互动，并确保与更广泛的利益相关者社区定期接触。我们的工作包括与利益攸关方和把关人开展实地工作，以了解当地农村社区当前的文化和社会背景，然后与社区成员就战争遗留爆炸物提案进行深入的审议研究。该团队将在每个站点与预先存在的社区倡议合作，例如，威尔士政府资助Plynlimon和Defra资助Rothamsted将保护与土地管理变化联系起来。

Meeting the UK's obligations for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 requires capturing and storing residual emissions of approximately 130 million tonnes of CO2e (CO2 equivalents) yr-1 with greenhouse gas removal (GGR) technologies within decades. The challenge is to achieve stringent mid-century emissions reductions without incurring major economic costs. Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) is a GGR technology based on amending soils with crushed calcium- and magnesium-rich silicate rocks to accelerate natural CO2 sequestration processes, whilst delivering co-benefits for crop production, food security and soil health.This ERW-GGR Demonstrator will provide the first integrated whole system assessment of the science, societal and scalability opportunities and challenges of ERW deployment in UK agriculture. It will assess the potential of ERW to remove up to 10% of the UK's GGR net-zero target by testing its implementation on arable land and the types of grassland covering 74% of UK utilized agricultural area (~13 million ha). Potential co-benefits include improved productivity by reducing excess soil acidity, resupplying soils with depleted plant-essential mineral nutrients, increased crop resistance to pests and pathogens, via greater silica uptake, and reducing soil nitrous oxide fluxes. Quantification of these co-benefits will generate evidence for catalysing early adoption and accelerating development pathways into standard agricultural practices.We will address the challenge of developing ERW-GGR with crushed silicate rock (basalt) through a creative, innovative and exciting cross-disciplinary collaborative programme comprising four interlinked Work Packages: WP1) large-scale sub-catchment, field or plot trials representing major UK land uses, including full GHG budgeting, WP2) public engagement, social acceptability and responsible innovation of ERW as a GGR technology, WP3) supply chain Life Cycle Assessment and scalability case studies road-mapping deployment scenarios 5 and 15-20 year post-Demonstrator, and WP4) development and application of an advanced modelling framework for realistic assessment of GGR with UK agriculture and its impact on farm economics.The ERW Demonstrator will be developed across three nationally important flagship field sites with long-term baseline datasets. The Plynlimon Experimental Catchments (mid-Wales) form the UK's longest-running catchment research facility, with 40 years of monitoring data from two paired catchments dominated by upland grassland with sub-catchments on the same bedrock and soils. In England, we will utilize two core BBSRC facilities: Rothamsted Research's North Wyke grassland experimental platform, Devon, and their cutting-edge arable research facility in Harpenden. Our interdisciplinary programme integrates across the natural and social sciences, with the former identifying environmental benefits and risks of deployment on UK arable and pastureland, and the latter contributing in-depth knowledge of public perceptions and local community acceptance of ERW. Working across WPs, we will construct a social license for ERW to operate at-scale in UK agriculture and develop a Responsible Research and Innovation programme for the Demonstrator.We are planning three Demonstrator-led events, Policy Briefings, and outreach events with the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, to facilitate academic, business and policy interactions and ensure regular contact with the wider stakeholder communities. Our work includes in situ work with stakeholders and gatekeepers to fill in the current cultural and social background of local rural communities, followed by in-depth deliberative research regarding ERW proposals with community members. The team will work with pre-existing community initiatives at each site, e.g., Welsh Government funding at Plynlimon and Defra funding of Rothamsted for linking conservation with land management changes.