GGR projects
Home >
UKRI is funding five interdisciplinary Greenhouse Gas Removal (GGR) Demonstrator projects. Each project is researching a GGR method over the next four years.
The results will be used to shape government decision-making on the most effective technologies to help the UK tackle climate change and reach net zero. Find out about each GGR project below and by watching the video.
Biochar
The biochar project will address the uncertainties concerning the extent and scope of deployment of biochar, including its stability with respect to carbon sequestration, together with quantifying effects on soil health and ecosystem services, economic viability and also social acceptability. Field trials will take place at arable and grassland sites in the Midlands and Wales, an open cast coal mine site in Cumbria, denuded railway embankments, and forestry sites in England and Wales.


Enhanced rock weathering
The enhanced rock weathering project will explore amending soils with crushed calcium and magnesium rich silicate rocks from waste quarry fines to accelerate natural CO2 sequestration processes. It will also provide the first integrated whole system assessment of the science, societal and scalability opportunities and challenges of enhanced rock weathering deployment in UK agriculture. Field sites are the Plynlimon Experimental Catchments (mid-Wales), Rothamsted Research’s North Wyke grassland experimental platform in Devon, and their cutting-edge arable research facility in Harpenden, Hertfordshire.
Peatlands
The peatland (‘GGR-Peat’) project will work with natural processes to restore, and where possible enhance, the environmental conditions that lead to peat formation. Simultaneously it will develop innovative approaches to increase rates of CO2 uptake and store it securely for millennia. As part of this project, three experimental test locations are being established in representative lowland and upland peat settings: South Yorkshire, near Doncaster; land owned by the National Trust in the South Pennines; and finally, the Pwllpeiran Upland Research Centre in the Cambrian Mountains of Wales.


Perennial biomass crops
The perennial biomass crops (‘PBC4GGR’) project is investigating the potential for plants like willow and miscanthus to support BECCS in the UK. It will demonstrate novel establishment techniques that maximise yield whilst minimising greenhouse gas emissions, and provide an up to date quantification of the scope for Greenhouse Gas Removal. The project will also establish the conditions required for farmer uptake and wider societal acceptance, and investigate the costs, benefits and trade-offs for biodiversity and ecosystem services. New field trials will be developed – for miscanthus at Bishop Burton College, East Yorkshire and willow at Myerscough College, Lancashire.
Woodland creation and management

The relationship between the GGR-D Programme, Demonstrators and CO2RE
Together, CO2RE and the Demonstrators form the UKRI Greenhouse Gas Removal Demonstrators (GGR-D) Programme. CO2RE is responsible for co-ordinating the GGR-D Programme and undertaking solutions-led research on GGR. A key role of CO2RE is to provide insights into the cross-cutting challenges that will be faced by the Demonstrators projects and co-developing evidence of scale and wider acceptability of GGR approaches. CO2RE will provide friendly but critical oversight as the Demonstrators advance, which will result in the co-creation of valuable new knowledge as they scale.

Pathfinders projects
CO2RE is funding four innovative GGR projects as part of its Pathfinders Call 1. The projects explore new methods for capturing greenhouse gases and durably storing or converting them. Find out more about our funding opportunities.

Use of co-pyrolised biochar in Carbon-Negative Hydrogen Production (HyBECCS) from bio-organic wastes

Evolved aquatic microbial communities to sequester atmospheric CO2

Methane removal and remediation using chlorine radicals

Enzyme-enhanced carbon capture and storage solutions in basaltic rock

What is Greenhouse Gas Removal?
Our FAQ page answers questions around Greenhouse Gas Removal, including why we need it, what the different types of GGR are and how they can be pursued.

Funding & secondments
CO2RE holds a £1 million Flexible Fund which will be used to fill in gaps and needs identified during the lifetime of the Programme. The fund will support work to address research and engagement gaps through three approaches.

Publications
Browse the latest publications from members of the CO2RE team, including articles in leading journals, policy briefings and reports on a range of aspects relating to GGR.
Events

Exploring risk & uncertainty for actors in the new GGR sector
Event date - February 8, 2023
Join as an expert panel explores risk and uncertainty for actors in the new GGR sector Read more

The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal – Report launch
Event date - January 19, 2023
This webinar will launch a new global annual report – The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) Read more

GGR Future Leaders Network ‘Sandpit’
Event date - January 17, 2023
17 January 2023. Help shape the Greenhouse Gas Removal Future Leaders Network at this sandpit event run by CO2RE. The sandpit will run 10am-5pm. Read more
Tweets
RT @jloistf: Over 99% of the 2Gt of anthropogenic CO2 removal which takes place each year occurs via ways we manage land. For @BBC_Future,… Read More
Would you like to undertake a secondment in #GreenhouseGasRemoval? Check out our 'Removals in Residence' secondment scheme, between any type of organisation 👇 https://t.co/ZRWpkbFxfj Read More
Can we really take CO₂ back out of the air? Nice piece in @BBC_Future featuring CO₂RE's @stv_smth and @DrRobBellamy Read More
@EveTamme Thank you, Eve! Read More
RT @EveTamme: Check out these FAQs on #carbonremoval by @CO2REhub My favourites: • Can't we just plant more trees? • What can individuals… Read More
RT @OxfordNetZero: 📢#Vacancy! We're seeking to appoint a Research Fellow on Net Zero for the Fossil Fuel Sector They will also be a non-… Read More
@TheSmithSchool @oxfordgeography @ecioxford @Grantham_IC @TheBiocharDemo @UKERW_GGRD @_NetZeroPlus And read about the many different methods there are for capturing greenhouse gases and durably storing them. Full FAQ: https://t.co/1rqJf8j2Wf Read More
@TheSmithSchool @oxfordgeography @ecioxford @Grantham_IC @TheBiocharDemo @UKERW_GGRD @_NetZeroPlus ...and what we don't! https://t.co/fERuEIXMaF Read More
![UKRI_logo_[W]](https://co2re.org/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://co2re.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/UKRI_logo_W.png&nocache=1)
Funded by UK Research and Innovation, grant reference NE/V013106/1
Site by Herd