Ocean carbon removal
Ocean carbon removal has now issued credits, and how the removal is measured differs for each project. Carbon to Sea's review of the first Planetary issuance describes modelled air-sea exchange, deductions for uncertainty and limits to the data it could inspect. Issued credits are stronger evidence than a promise to buy, but they do not tell us which ocean-removal method is cheapest.
Research snapshot · updated Nov 12, 2026
OAE + electrochemical approaches survive Running Tide wind-down
Ebb Carbon + Planetary Technologies + Captura + Equatic continue with Stripe + Frontier + Microsoft commitments. Electrochemical hydrogen + OAE coproduct (Equatic Boeing partnership) has dual revenue stream. Captura demonstrated technology validation, scaling. These approaches differentiated from macroalgae by closer-to-source carbon flux + tighter MRV.
State of the art (2026)
Ocean CDR crossed from research to delivery in late 2025. Planetary Technologies issued the first independently verified ocean alkalinity (OAE) credits – 625.6 tonnes from its Halifax Tufts Cove site under Isometric's first-of-its-kind OAE protocol – bought by Stripe, Shopify and British Airways, then signed a 31.3m-dollar, 115,211-tonne Frontier offtake running through 2030. Ebb Carbon holds a Microsoft deal for up to 350,000 tonnes and added Google in December 2025, while Equatic builds its 3,650 t/yr Equatic-1 plant in Singapore plus a roughly 109,500 t/yr North American facility. Electrochemical and alkalinity routes now dominate after macroalgae sinking collapsed with Running Tide's June 2024 wind-down; credible MRV, not engineering capacity, still sets the pace, and costs remain 300–1,000 dollars per tonne.
Equatic Quebec commercial plant is the scale proof point
Equatics roughly 109,500 tCO2/yr North American plant in Quebec (with Deep Sky) is the commercial-scale proof point after Equatic-1 Singapore went live in Q1 2026. Validates electrochemical + OAE + hydrogen co-product economics; success unlocks scale + follow-on offtake, failure compresses the commercial pathway.
MRV methodology development + NOAA + EU regulatory framework are gating events
Ocean carbon flux MRV uniquely hard (2-7 year ocean cycle, additionality uncertain). Verra + Gold Standard + Puro.earth methodologies + NOAA + EPA + EU regulatory framework 2027-2028. Methodology standardisation enables voluntary market scale; failure caps commitments.
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Signal stack
Evidence stacked leading → lagging
10 signals
Signal stack
Evidence stacked leading → lagging
Technology-native KPIs
Metrics that predict trajectory, tracked over time
4 tracked
Technology-native KPIs
Metrics that predict trajectory, tracked over time
Landscape map
Who builds what, and who depends on whom
156 players · 6 layers
Landscape map
Who builds what, and who depends on whom
Catalyst calendar
Dated events that will move the position
7 ahead
Catalyst calendar
Dated events that will move the position
Technology roadmap
Milestones on the path to maturity
8 milestones
Technology roadmap
Milestones on the path to maturity
Watchlists
Companies, people and papers, each with a condition for removing it
20 · 20
Watchlists
Companies, people and papers, each with a condition for removing it
Decision frameworks
What our view means for your job
Locked
Decision frameworks
What our view means for your job
Thesis changelog
When our view changed, and why
8 updates
Thesis changelog
When our view changed, and why
Change our mind
5 disconfirming conditions
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The full signal stack, technology-native KPIs tracked over time, the landscape of who depends on whom, the dated catalyst calendar, decision frameworks for every desk, live watchlists and a record of every time our view on Ocean carbon removal has changed. All of it is in CanaryIQ.