From carbon booster shots for the soil to methane-busting bacteria at landfill sites; researchers are calling on world leaders to turn their gaze towards the microscopic for effective answers to some of the world’s most perplexing riddles around climate change action right now.

The humble world of microbes could be one of our most effective allies in the fight against climate change, but a coordinated and global approach will be required to unlock and unleash the vast benefits that microbe-based solutions could deliver, a global team of microbiologists have said in an unprecedented call to action published across 24 scientific journals.

Timed to coincide with the United Nations climate change conference known as COP29 that is now underway in Baku, Azerbaijan scientists are urging policymakers, governments, and industry to mobilise technologies and global deployment on a level to those seen enacted in response to the global Covid-19 pandemic.

“The time for isolated efforts has passed,” said Jack Gilbert, the senior corresponding author who led the report and microbiologists at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Department of Pediatrics.

“We need a coordinated, global approach to unlock the potential of microbes as allies in the fight against climate change. Our call to action aims to mobilise all sectors – from policymakers to industry – towards this urgent goal.”

Published concurrently across no fewer than 24 scientific journals, the call goes lengths to underscore the pivotal yet often overlooked role that microbes have to play in the climate system. Not only are they responsible for driving the biogeochemical cycles of our planet, they are responsible for the emissions, capture, and transformation of greenhouse gasses, and even control the fate of carbon in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

From humans to corals, most organisms rely on a microbiome of microbes and bacteria that assists with nutrient acquisition, defence against pathogens, and other essential functions.

The list of microbial-based solutions microbiologists from around the globe are now calling for may read like a page from a Jules Verne novel, yet it presents what Gilbert has called a set of “powerful yet underutilised tools in addressing climate change.”

Carbon Sequestration Boosters, for a start, encourages the use of microbes to help lock carbon into soils and oceans, cutting CO2 in the atmosphere and enriching soil for better crop growth; Methane Busters incorporate bacteria into landfill sites to reduce the methane that litter emits; and Microbial Bioenergy uses algae, yeast, sugarcane, vegetable oils, and animal fats to make biofuels – replacing the need for fossil fuel.

Then there’s the proposed deployment of Pollution Fighters, using microbes to break down the pollutants in industrial waste; Microbiome Therapy through which the diet of cows is changed to reduce the methane they produce; and Fertiliser Revolution replaces synthetic nitrogen in fertilisers with natural bacteria to improve both air and water quality.

“By deploying these innovations at scale, we can help mitigate the climate crisis while enhancing ecosystem resilience,” said Gilbert. 

To facilitate that deployment of these microbiome technologies – and to give global governments access to ‘rigorous, evidence-based solutions’, the report also recommends the formation of a global science-based climate task force – a group that would then apply for dedicated funding to spur cross-sector collaboration.

The concurrent publication of the paper across 24 microbiology and Nature journals is a rare occurrence; one meant to serve as an “emergency bulletin” across multiple academic and scientific outlets to call for immediate and tangible steps towards microbiology-based solutions. Publication of the paper featured in titles such as Sustainable Microbiology, Nature Microbiology, Nature Communications, and Climate Action and Sustainable Agriculture.

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