Spreading rock dust on farms: a tantalizing climate solution

A new study estimates that the new low-tech method could capture almost half the carbon the UK needs to meet its climate goals.

In fact, rocks are some of our planet’s greatest carbon sinks. This capture occurs through a process called chemical weathering, whereby atmospheric CO2 gets dissolved in raindrops, forming carbonic acid, which reacts with the rock minerals and causes them to break down and ‘weather’. During that process, carbon also changes form and gets locked into the sediment as bicarbonate: this effectively strips it from the atmosphere and keeps it circulating in terrestrial and ocean systems for long periods of time.