Amazon Turns To Ocean Seaweed Farming As Next Key Step To Fight Climate Change

Offshore wind farms, solar cells, electric cars, faux meat—all ways that scientists and engineers have come up with to aid the planet’s fight against climate change. But what if another tool to help combat carbon emissions was hidden under your nose all along?

Amazon recently announced it would be funding the world’s first commercial-scale seaweed farm, which will be situated between the company’s offshore wind turbines in order to expand cultivation of the plant in an already crowded North Sea.

Could the unsuspecting ocean plant be the next step in cleaning up the earth? The retail giant seems to think so, claiming that if seaweed farming covered the same area as wind farms (one million hectares by 2040), it would reduce millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.

This project, managed by a group of scientific researchers and partners within the seaweed industry, will be led by the nonprofit organization North Sea Farmers (NSF) and could begin operations by the end of the year.

According to Amazon, the hope is that the 10-hectare project—which will cost €1.5 million (US$16 million)—will become a blueprint for other offshore seaweed farms across the globe. It’s expected to produce at least 6,000 kg (13, 227 lbs) of fresh seaweed just in its first year alone.

As the farming takes off, researchers will work to explore how these seaweed farms can better remove carbon emissions from the atmosphere, and use these findings to scale the project in the future to other parts of the world.

“Seaweed could be a key tool in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, yet it’s currently farmed at a relatively small scale in Europe,” explained Zak Watts, Director EU Sustainability at Amazon.

“We’re delighted to fund this project to help us reach a greater understanding of its ability to help fight climate change,” he added.

Could the ubiquitous marine algae really be the key to unlocking greater sustainability? You might soon find out.

[via Interesting Engineering and Amazon, images via Amazon]