Chinese scientists in Beijing shared the latest results in advancing the Global Ocean Negative Carbon Emission (Global ONCE) program, which aims to evoke the ocean as a carbon sink in an effort to fight climate change.
The announcement was made at the ongoing 2024 World Science and Technology Development Forum. Themed "Science and Technology for the Future," the forum brings together global minds to advance high-quality development and promote international scientific and cultural exchange.
At the sub-forum on interdisciplinary integration and development to provide solutions for achieving sustainable development, a team of Chinese scientists briefed the attendees on the progress of Global ONCE and announced the establishment of the China-U.S.-European ONCE Demonstration Base and the Asian sub-center.
ONCE means storing carbon dioxide in the ocean artificially through the implementation of ecological engineering and continuously exerting the capacity of the ocean, the largest active carbon reservoir on Earth.
Chinese scientists have long been studying ocean carbon sinks and have proposed a theoretical "marine microbial pump," which would convert carbon dioxide into inert dissolved organisms through the action of microorganisms, thus achieving long-term storage in the ocean, even for thousands of years. This achievement has been included in the United Nations Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission White Paper.
Peter Thomson, United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Ocean, also attended the event and he highlighted the importance of international cooperation in ocean studies and protection.
"There's actually only one ocean. So we have to be universal in our understanding of it. We have to be universal in our cooperation about what we have to do to keep it healthy. Only through international cooperation can we have a healthy ocean. And it's always very encouraging for me to see the way that our scientists are so happy to see each other and to exchange ideas. The scientific community operates without boundaries, and that is the way it must be because we only have one planet and one ocean. And we have a climate crisis and so we have to all get together and deal with that crisis," he said.