Brownfields redevelopment and fighting climate change

Ecologist have discovered that Brownfield sites (wasteland areas of stone and rubbish) could be of importance in the fight against climate change. Researchers found out that urban brownfield grounds have an significant amount of untapped potential to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, if the soil is managed properly.

Newcastle University's Dr. Goddard says: "The soil beneath our feet is a major reservoir for carbon. Our research shows that we mustn't neglect brownfield soils because they have huge potential for carbon capture via a process called 'carbonation'."

Carbonation is a process that combines calcium (which is abundant in brownfield soils that contain demolition waste such as concrete dust and lime) with atmospheric CO2 to form calcium carbonate (calcite). Organic carbon in large amounts which is locked away in peatlands have accumulated very slowly, where as inorganic carbon in calcite, can form very rapidly in the soils of brownfields, making them more useful in cutting down the level of atmospheric CO2.

The results of an earlier survey of 21 Brownfield sites across Tyneside and Teeside in UK were striking especially their discovery that one hectare of urban soil can sequester up to 85 tonnes of atmospheric carbon per year. "Scaling that up, appropriate management of less than 12,000 hectares of urban land to maximize calcite formation could remove 1 million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere each year," explains Professor Manning of the SUCCESS project that performed this survey.

They SUCCES project team surveyed the areas' plant and animal life, as well as their potential for recreation, education and food production with promising results as they recorded more than 180 plant species on the 21 sites, according to Dr. Goddard a direct result of the inorganic carbonation.

Currently the team is engineering artificial soils to capture as much CO2 as possible, and through such experiments they are trying to find out which vegetation is best at channeling carbon from the atmosphere into the soil via the process of photosynthesis.

Their goal is to recommend designer plant communities to maximize carbonation as part of 'carbon capture gardens' urban green spaces that soak up CO2 as well as being places for recreational use and wildlife

Lifehack finders Nice to Know: If only 700,000 ha of the 1.7 million ha of urban land the UK has was managed proactively it could meet 10% of the UK's yearly CO2 reduction target. The UK's 23 million gardens occupy about 433,000 ha. If a carbon capture function was built in to just 1% of these gardens, a reduce of 300,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere per year would be possible, making this study and project a top ecological solution.