As part of our effort to accelerate the assessment of the viability of methane removal to inform the broader climate solutions portfolio, Spark is issuing a Request For Proposals for laboratory studies to better understand whether and under which—if any—conditions the enhancement of tropospheric chlorine-mediated oxidation reduces methane’s atmospheric lifetime. This effort will build from a foundation of earlier scientific work to answer key open questions on the scientific viability of these approaches.
Methane is responsible for roughly 30% of today’s warming, second only to carbon dioxide. Cutting methane emissions is essential for reducing climate risks. Even with aggressive emissions reductions, concentrations are expected to remain high due to hard-to-abate sources and warming-induced emissions from wetlands, thawing permafrost, and other natural sources.
Methane removal has emerged as a potential climate response strategy to help counteract high methane concentrations and reduce climate risk. In 2024, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) issued a report calling for greater research into methane removal and outlining a research agenda to explore potential pathways. The field is at a very early stage and in need of foundational research to rigorously assess these different potential methane removal pathways.
Methane removal involves breaking down methane into carbon dioxide and water faster than nature does on its own, thereby reducing its impact on warming. The primary sink for methane is oxidation in the atmosphere, wherein methane is broken down via reactions with hydroxyl (OH) radicals, and to a lesser extent chlorine (Cl) radicals.
This solicitation will provide foundational research into potential chlorine-mediated methane removal pathways. To date, research into this topic—including exploration of natural analogues like mineral dust-sea spray aerosol—has been limited, and many key questions remain unanswered.
This solicitation will support collaborative laboratory chamber studies, directly informed by the needs of the climate modeling community, to determine the necessary parameters to evaluate whether chlorine-mediated pathways could meaningfully shorten methane’s atmospheric lifetime.
The research will be conducted in multiple phases. An initial short scoping phase—with a total award amount of up to $80,000—will support a small, multi-disciplinary team to work with the broader research community to identify the most important parameters and develop an experimental design for laboratory studies. A second phase contingent on the results of the scoping effort—with a total award amount up to $2 million—will support a multi-year, multi-institution laboratory investigation under realistic atmospheric conditions. Contingent on the availability of funding, and the outcome of the laboratory studies, Spark may choose to support a third phase to extend this work into global modeling.
The submission deadline for Phase I proposals is March 9, 2026.
Access the full solicitation documentation here.
As part of our effort to accelerate the assessment of the viability of methane removal to inform the broader climate solutions portfolio, Spark is issuing a Request For Proposals for laboratory studies to better understand whether and under which—if any—conditions the enhancement of tropospheric chlorine-mediated oxidation reduces methane’s atmospheric lifetime. This effort will build from a foundation of earlier scientific work to answer key open questions on the scientific viability of these approaches.
Methane is responsible for roughly 30% of today’s warming, second only to carbon dioxide. Cutting methane emissions is essential for reducing climate risks. Even with aggressive emissions reductions, concentrations are expected to remain high due to hard-to-abate sources and warming-induced emissions from wetlands, thawing permafrost, and other natural sources.
Methane removal has emerged as a potential climate response strategy to help counteract high methane concentrations and reduce climate risk. In 2024, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) issued a report calling for greater research into methane removal and outlining a research agenda to explore potential pathways. The field is at a very early stage and in need of foundational research to rigorously assess these different potential methane removal pathways.
Methane removal involves breaking down methane into carbon dioxide and water faster than nature does on its own, thereby reducing its impact on warming. The primary sink for methane is oxidation in the atmosphere, wherein methane is broken down via reactions with hydroxyl (OH) radicals, and to a lesser extent chlorine (Cl) radicals.
This solicitation will provide foundational research into potential chlorine-mediated methane removal pathways. To date, research into this topic—including exploration of natural analogues like mineral dust-sea spray aerosol—has been limited, and many key questions remain unanswered.
This solicitation will support collaborative laboratory chamber studies, directly informed by the needs of the climate modeling community, to determine the necessary parameters to evaluate whether chlorine-mediated pathways could meaningfully shorten methane’s atmospheric lifetime.
The research will be conducted in multiple phases. An initial short scoping phase—with a total award amount of up to $80,000—will support a small, multi-disciplinary team to work with the broader research community to identify the most important parameters and develop an experimental design for laboratory studies. A second phase contingent on the results of the scoping effort—with a total award amount up to $2 million—will support a multi-year, multi-institution laboratory investigation under realistic atmospheric conditions. Contingent on the availability of funding, and the outcome of the laboratory studies, Spark may choose to support a third phase to extend this work into global modeling.
The submission deadline for Phase I proposals is March 9, 2026.
Access the full solicitation documentation here.
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