Larger rock extraction sites could improve the efficiency of enhanced rock weathering in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Large-scale removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is required to meet net-zero targets. Enhanced rock weathering, in which crushed silicate minerals are spread on cropland soils, is a promising approach, but the logistics of its supply chain are poorly understood. Here, we use a numerical spatio-temporal allocation model that links potential rock extraction sites in the United Kingdom with croplands, modelling deployment pathways over the period 2025–2070. We find that expanding individual quarries (up to 20 times larger than the current average) and prioritising supply timing and location can increase carbon-removal efficiency by 20%, cut transport demand by 60% and reduce the number of operating quarries four-fold, while enabling up to 700 million tonnes of carbon dioxide removal by 2070. However, these large sites may face stronger local opposition and planning challenges, underscoring the critical role of policy in enabling feasible deployment.

Metadata

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Madankan, M. Kantzas, E.P. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7610-1874 Espinosa, R.M.E. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1577-3068 Vetter, S.H. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5241-2435 Koh, L. Smith, P. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3784-1124 Beerling, D.J. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1869-4314 Renforth, P. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1460-9947
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© The Author(s) 2025. Open Access: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Keywords:	Climate-change mitigation; Environmental impact
Dates:	Accepted: 31 July 2025 Published (online): 15 August 2025 Published: 15 August 2025
Institution:	The University of Sheffield
Academic Units:	The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Biosciences (Sheffield) The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Management School (Sheffield)
Funding Information:	Funder Grant number BIOTECHNOLOGY AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH COUNCIL BB/V011359/1 LEVERHULME TRUST (THE) RC-2015-029
Depositing User:	Symplectic Sheffield
Date Deposited:	22 Aug 2025 10:26
Last Modified:	22 Aug 2025 10:26
Status:	Published
Publisher:	Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Refereed:	Yes
Identification Number:	10.1038/s43247-025-02656-9
Sustainable Development Goals:
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:230709

Download

Published Version

Filename: s43247-025-02656-9.pdf

Licence: CC-BY 4.0

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

CORE (COnnecting REpositories)

Larger rock extraction sites could improve the efficiency of enhanced rock weathering in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Metadata

Download

Published Version

Export

Statistics