After hearing so much about how dangerous asbestos exposure is and how it’s responsible for thousands of deaths annually, we’re now learning that this hazardous material could actually help us fight climate change. As absurd as that sounds, asbestos actually is being explored as a material to absorb carbon dioxide and draw down greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

What Is Carbon Dioxide?

To understand what asbestos can do for us regarding carbon dioxide, it’s helpful if we know what carbon dioxide actually is. It’s a colourless gas that consists of carbon and oxygen.  

In small quantities, it’s harmless, but this greenhouse gas can actually have a significant impact on our lives. In high amounts, it can affect our productivity, sleep, and the air we breathe.

The more carbon dioxide that builds up in our environment, such as from burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and other human activities, the more it may impact our climate by warming the earth.

What Is Asbestos?

Asbestos is a fibrous silicate mineral that is naturally occurring. Its use dates back around 4,500 years, and it started being mined extensively from around the 19th century. While it was harmless while undisturbed and covered by soil in the earth, we came to learn that it was hazardous for our health when manufactured. 

When asbestos fibres are breathed in, they can cause a wide variety of health complications like malignant mesothelioma and asbestosis. Around 67 countries have banned its use, and mines have been shut down. You will not find any companies in New Zealand using asbestos-manufactured products today.

Asbestos’ Role As a Carbon Sink

You’d be forgiven for being confused about how a toxic material like asbestos could help us solve our carbon dioxide emissions problems. However, the research does suggest that in its natural form, asbestos could function as a carbon sink. 

A carbon sink is a natural or human-made reservoir that can either store or accumulate carbon-containing chemical compounds to lower the volume of C02 in the atmosphere. Our two most valuable carbon sinks to date are the ocean and vegetation.  

Even though there’s clear danger associated with using asbestos for anything, a careful approach could be how we can put this natural mineral to good use. Scientists believe that it may be able to grab carbon dioxide molecules that become dissolved in rainwater or float through the air because of its wide surface area. 

When carbon dioxide meets asbestos compounds in the environment, a reaction occurs that results in minerals called magnesites. These are described as ‘stable and proverbially inert’. This could be a recipe for success in managing our greenhouse gas.  

Scientists think that we could make use of our current and previously closed asbestos mines and turn them into carbon sinks. We just have to figure out how to do it safely, given how even secondhand exposure can be potentially fatal.

How Carbon Sink Creation Would Work

One of the main reasons why so many people have died from asbestos exposure is a lack of information. We haven’t always known how to handle it safely and what the side effects of doing so can be. Now we do. 

Therefore, scientists believe that because we understand the medical risks of asbestos and how to handle it safely, we may be able to capture carbon at retired and working asbestos mines without harming nearby communities.

According to a Technology Review article, the initial hope is to offset carbon emissions from the mining itself by using minerals that have already been extracted. This is the initial hope, but they also want to use this opportunity to figure out how they can dig up minerals, including asbestos, to draw down greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.

What Is the Likelihood Of It Happening?

As with any new idea, there are a number of stumbling blocks. Putting our asbestos to use undoubtedly has its fair share. Breaking up asbestos in mines to allow it to absorb carbon is environmentally destructive in itself, which could minimise the benefits of any emissions reductions in the first place.

The cost of transforming these mines could also be far more expensive than planting trees, which is one of many methods we’ve looked at to combat greenhouse gases. The benefits versus the potential health concerns may mean this is not a viable option for every country in the world.

In the Meantime, What Do We Do?

In New Zealand, there’s only one thing we can do with our asbestos, at least for now. If we find it in our homes, we call upon licensed removal experts to take care of it. Once removed, they take the materials to approved dumping locations to prevent them from being a health risk in the future.