Negative emissions technologies and practices could challenge global resource supply and environmental limits

March 6, 2026

Abstract

Meeting climate goals will most likely require large-scale carbon dioxide removal, yet its sustainability implications remain poorly understood. Here, we conduct a prospective life cycle assessment of multiple negative emissions technologies and practices, integrating mineral resource, health, and absolute sustainability indicators to quantify impacts between 2030 and 2050. Our comprehensive analysis reveals previously overlooked bottlenecks: biochar and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage could sharply raise nutrient demand, further compromising food security, while direct air carbon capture and storage and ocean liming could critically exacerbate the mining levels of key mineral resources, despite their lower collateral damage. These findings will help guide the sustainable and safe expansion of the carbon dioxide removal industry by balancing multiple risks, thereby minimizing unintended environmental and resource-related consequences.

Data availability

The model parameters and life cycle inventories supporting these findings are available in https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17574760.

Code availability

Code to quantify resource extraction is available in https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15084711.

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Acknowledgements

S.C. acknowledges financial support from grant RYC2022-035377, funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the ESF+. �.G.M. acknowledges financial support from project PID2023-151855OA-I00, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. The project received funding from the Horizon 2020 under grant agreement No 869192.

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S.C. contributed to conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, writing of the original draft, reviewing, editing, and funding acquisition. �.G.M. contributed to reviewing and editing. G.G.G. contributed to funding acquisition, conceptualization, reviewing and editing.

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Selene Cobo or Gonzalo Guillén-Gosálbez.

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Communications Earth & Environment thanks Gopa Nandikes, Anna Schomberg and the other anonymous reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary handling editors: Sadia Ilyas and Martina Grecequet. A peer review file is available.

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Cobo, S., Galán-Martín, �. & Guillén-Gosálbez, G. Negative emissions technologies and practices could challenge global resource supply and environmental limits.
Commun Earth Environ (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03348-8

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