Table 1 Examples of microbial strategies that can be developed and/or deployed at scale to tackle climate change^1,2,3,10

Carbon sequestration

Microbial enhancement of carbon sequestration in soils and oceans

Reduces atmospheric CO₂ and enhances soil productivity

Agricultural and forestry sustainability and marine biosequestration

Methane oxidation

Use of methanotrophic bacteria to oxidize methane into less harmful compounds

Lowers methane emissions and can promote atmospheric removal; mitigates a potent greenhouse gas

Landfills; livestock management; inland freshwater bodies; wetlands

Bioenergy production

Cultivation of algae and other microbes for biofuel production

Provides renewable energy; reduces reliance on fossil fuels

Biofuel production; industrial applications

Bioremediation

Microbial breakdown of pollutants and hazardous substances

Improves environmental health; reduces toxin exposure

Industrial waste management; contaminated land and sediment restoration

Microbial therapies

Targeted microbiome management using microbial therapies (for example, probiotics, postbiotics, prebiotics); can mitigate harmful microbiomes and consequent environmental degradation; restoring beneficial microbiomes across hosts and ecosystems

Improves organismal and environmental health and can be applied to sustainable practices, which, in turn, minimizes greenhouse gas emissions

Wildlife and ecosystem restoration and rehabilitation; sustainable agriculture; human health

Nitrogen management

Engineering crops with symbiotic bacteria to fix atmospheric nitrogen or crops that produce biological nitrification inhibitors

Enhances soil fertility; reduces fertilizer use; increases plant nitrogen use efficiency; decreases eutrophication and greenhouse gas emissions

Sustainable agriculture; crop production