A new whitepaper, co-authored by Arca and the Climate Agency, outlines the high-potential opportunities for scaling carbon dioxide removal (CDR) to planetary levels through industrial mineralization.
Reviewed by Isometric’s Dr. Rhys Savage and Daniel Pike, Principal of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), the publication explains how waste from a range of large-scale industries can be used to address the problem of excess atmospheric CO2 emissions.
In a foreword, CDR.fyi co-founder Tank Chen highlights that this whitepaper presents the logic on how waste can become valuable and how collaboration between industries, technology providers, and policymakers can make gigatonne-scale mineralization possible.
Industrial mineralization (IMin) refers to a technological CDR pathway that uses alkaline industrial waste to mineralize CO2 into solid carbonate minerals, tackling both industrial waste on the ground and the carbon emissions accumulated in the atmosphere.
This technology is compatible with alkaline waste streams from a range of different industries like steel, mining, cement, and the legacy power sector, and it can serve as a viable pathway to gigaton-scale CDR.
By tapping into the existing infrastructure and established operations of heavy industries, IMin can get access to a number of components needed for a large-scale setup, such as process engineering expertise, logistics, infrastructure, and feedstock.
The industries that integrate IMin, on the other hand, can benefit from tangible improvements, like waste stabilization and neutralization of hazardous materials, as well as increased metal recovery and by-products that can be marketed.
Industrial mineralization can be incorporated within existing industrial sites, eliminating the need for additional land and resources, and it also opens up a new income source through the sale of high-integrity carbon removal credits.
Relevant: Microsoft Purchases Nearly 300,000 Tonnes Of Durable CDR From Arca
According to the whitepaper, for industries like mining, steel, cement, and power generation, industrial mineralization presents a multibillion-dollar opportunity that would convert waste into value.
This CDR approach has already seen many strategic investments and partnerships established across the sector, with the largest one inked in October 2025 between Arca and Microsoft for the delivery of approximately 300,000 tonnes of durable CDR over a period of 10 years.
The whitepaper points out that IMin can embed CDR into large-scale operations and economics, bringing this vision to the attention of industry leaders, investors, and governments, who need to coordinate efforts and act on this major opportunity.
Read more: Arca & Giga Metals To Explore CDR At Nickel Mine In Canada
