A Field-Defining Moment for Biological Methane Removal
Methane is a major driver of near-term warming, and even with full deployment of known mitigation strategies, a large emissions gap is projected to remain by 2050. Biological methane removal—via engineered plants, methanotroph-based bioreactors, and enhanced methane uptake in soils and forests—could help close that gap, but the field is still early and full of open technical questions.
To surface the clearest next research steps, Homeworld Collective and Spark Climate Solutions convened 30 experts for a two-day workshop in Fall 2024. This report distills their input into an executive overview plus a set of concise problem statements spanning four bioMR pathways, designed to guide researchers and funders toward the highest-leverage opportunities.
To learn more about biological methane removal, listen to an earlier episode of The Climate Biotech Podcast, with Paul Reginato from Homeworld and Sam Abernethy from Spark Climate Solutions.
Why Care About Atmospheric Methane Removal?
Methane has caused ~30% of global warming to date and is 80-fold more potent than CO₂ as a greenhouse gas over a 20-year period. Even if we implement all known strategies to reduce emissions, a methane emissions gap of 25-120 Mt CH4/yr will remain by 2050 due to rising natural emissions. To avoid catastrophic warming, we need new approaches to actively remove methane from the atmosphere.
Many of the atmospheric methane removal (MR) pathways presently under consideration are biological, including engineered methane-removing plants, methane removal bioreactors, and enhanced methanotrophy in soils or forests. Yet these approaches remain underexplored, with major technical unknowns hindering progress.
Convening Experts to Identify Research Needs
To clarify the actionable opportunities to move the field forward, Homeworld Collective and Spark Climate Solutions hosted a two-day workshop in Fall 2024. We convened 30 expert researchers from across the globe to articulate the specific technical bottlenecks limiting progress on biological MR (bioMR) and the actionable steps to address them. The workshop was structured to identify and communicate distinct research opportunities through a series of concise problem statements.
The problem statements were outlined at the workshop, and then drafted by Homeworld after the workshop with input from workshop participants and Spark. Each problem statement conveys the motivating factor for why the research opportunity is important in the big picture, specific bottlenecks that limit progress, and concrete goals which, if achieved, would constitute a solution to an important problem on the path to bioMR.
This report aggregates the problem statements that were created through the workshop, and provides an executive overview of the workshop findings. It represents the voices of the workshop participants in a call to action to the broader research and funding communities
The problem statements focus on the following four major bioMR pathways and themes:
- Engineered methane-removing plants, with themes of improving understanding and engineering of the methane monooxygenase (MMO) enzymes that would need to be expressed in such plants.
- Methane removal bioreactors, with themes of design/techno-economics of MR bioreactors and optimizing methanotrophs for deployment in MR bioreactors.
- Forest methanotrophy enhancement, with themes of improving measurement of methane fluxes across tree surfaces, understanding the mechanisms underlying methane uptake by trees, and collecting more data to support the science.
- Soil methanotrophy enhancement, with themes similar to forest methanotrophy enhancement: improving measurement, developing mechanistic understanding, and collecting data to characterize soil methane uptake.
Curious about launching or funding work in bioMR? We’d love to talk. Reach out to us at paul [ at ] homeworld [ dot ] bio.
Download the executive summary and full report below.