How Gigablue is Scaling Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal Responsibly
At Gigablue, our mission begins with the ocean and its wellbeing. Restoring its resilience to warming, by deacidifying its waters is the most significant action we can take against climate change. Deploying safe, large-scale carbon removal directly supports marine ecosystems while drawing down excess carbon dioxide. Our Marine Carbon Fixation and Sequestration (MCFS) methodology is engineered to operate at gigaton-scale impact, while prioritizing ocean health without compromise.
MCFS combines scientific precision with a deep respect for the planet and its oceans to ensure that all aspects of our projects follow the highest standards of empirical validation and scientific integrity. From the beginning, our work has been shaped by this Earth-first and ocean-first perspective – helping us achieve the necessary balance with our planet’s natural systems – founded on five core pillars:
Scalability: Built to reach meaningful scale
Quality: Grounded in rigorous scientific design and execution
Measurability: Driven by transparent and independently-verified data
Highest Environmental Standard: Determined to create carbon removal that supports ecosystem health
Circularity: Focused on both sustainable materials and economic value
Gigablue partners with trusted, independent institutions to build these pillars, creating an ecosystem of scientific validation that will continue to grow alongside our operations. As we expand our operations, our foremost commitment is ensuring marine ecosystems are nurtured and protected, encouraging their restoration. We’re proud to lead the way in shaping the future of mCDR that’s safe, effective, transparent and trusted.
MMRV and EMRV-Driven from Day One
At the heart of MCFS is a robust Monitoring, Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MMRV) framework that incorporates three key components: analyzing the operational environment, ensuring credible validation, and conducting thorough background assessments both before and after activity.
MMRV and Environmental MRV has been designed integrally into Gigablue’s mCDR solution from inception. This approach relies on multiple standard oceanographic practices, where the core is a real-time, in-situ data collection through a robust protocol for each deployment. This assures scientific integrity, accuracy, transparency and accountability for the actual carbon that is being sequestered by Gigablue’s controlled export mechanism from the upper ocean, through the pycnocline, until long-term sequestration is achieved in the deep ocean.
Our MMRV framework has been reviewed by world-leading scientific institutions, including the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA). A crown institute with a long-standing history and extensive expertise in scientific research. As an independent institute renowned for its reliability and rigorous approach, NIWA strives to ensure carbon fixation and sequestration are quantified in a scientifically rigorous manner.
You can find more details from NIWA’s Scientific Methodology Review here and in this video here.
A Four-Staged Process Rooted in Science
Our MMRV process tracks carbon as it transitions from the fast carbon cycle (in the mixed layer) to the slow cycle (deep ocean, below the pycnocline). This occurs through four stages:
Background Measurements: Before each activity, initial data collection includes characterization of background physicochemical and biological parameters throughout the water column. Standard CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth) tools, equipped with additional oceanographic sensors, are used alongside a rosette sampler with Go-Flo bottles for sample collection for laboratory analyses.
Fixation—Monitoring and Measurement: Environmental samples are collected during fixation, and the amount of fixed carbon is tracked.
Sequestration: Following the shift from a buoyant to settled phase, an echosounder tracks and monitors progress alongside nets and ROV to sample the fixed sinking carbon.
Background Post-Activity: Upon completion of the mCDR activity, verification of minimal environmental impact is performed through additional data and sample collection (similar to stage 1).
All four stages require environmental monitoring. This system is based on physicochemical and biological analyses of the water column and standard oceanographic in situ measurements, ensuring that each deployment is grounded in local oceanographic reality.
Physiochemical parameters of the water column acquired by CTD instrumentation during activity in May 2024 in the Southern Ocean.
Echosounder tracking Gigablue substrates as they descend to long-term sequestration.
Confirming Environmental Safety Through Rigorous Testing
Beyond MMRV, Gigablue’s ensures its inputs include safe and inert materials that have passed rigorous toxicity tests to meet the highest standards. Additionally, we test for any potential effects on biodiversity in the activity area through rigorous eDNA tests. In New Zealand, these tests were performed by Cawthron, a private institute and the largest independent science center in the country, which supports the growth of primary industries and the protection of marine and freshwater environments.
Recent open-ocean experiments involved deploying booms and releasing proprietary substrates to the ocean, which were tracked and sampled over time. The comprehensive analysis provided crucial validation for MCFS, with the report concluding:
“Overall, these analyses suggest that the Gigablue operation did not have a significant effect on the composition of natural bacterial and microeukaryotic communities during or at the end of the trial associated with this report.”
Addressing a key environmental concern, Gigablue appointed Cawthron to specifically examine potential risks related to potential harmful algal blooms (HABs):
“... The results suggest, generally, that there is little to no difference in the proportion of potential HABs among the SterivexTM filter samples; therefore, under the conditions of the experiment, the presence of Gigablue substrates does not appear to promote the growth of harmful or pathogenic organisms…”
A continuous range of robust testing efforts are underway to complement earlier analyses and Gigablue plans to work with similar organizations to undergo the same testing in the other geographies where it operates.
Building Trust Through Independent Verification
Scientific integrity must be paired with market credibility for any carbon removal solution to achieve meaningful scale. That’s why Gigablue is now working toward a critical next step: collaborating with Puro.earth, the leading standard for carbon removal methods in the voluntary carbon market, to certify its carbon dioxide removal services under the Puro Standard.
By engaging Puro.earth to certify our credits with the Puro Standard, Gigablue aims to align with the highest quality standards for MRV available in the voluntary carbon markets.
As we anticipate the release of these verification results, we remain confident that our methodical approach to environmental validation will be reflected in the findings.
The Path Forward: Scaling with Scientific Confidence
With these scientific and market validations in place, Gigablue is strategically positioned to safely scale MCFS toward gigaton-scale by 2035. This trajectory is guided by the same principles that have defined our approach since inception:
Science-first decision making that prioritizes environmental safety alongside carbon removal efficacy
Transparent stakeholder communication
Comprehensive real-time monitoring during every deployment
Continuous independent verification through expanded partnerships with scientific institutions
As we prepare to share the results of our Puro.earth verification process, Gigablue remains steadfast in our commitment to transparency, scientific rigor, and environmental stewardship as the cornerstones of our approach to mCDR.
By maintaining these high standards as we grow, Gigablue is demonstrating that MCFS is both scalable and environmentally responsible.
Please reach out to press@gigablue.co with any questions. For full access to Cawthron’s findings, please fill out the form here.
