This CO2 can return to the atmosphere or enter rivers; alternatively, it can react with soil minerals to form inorganic dissolved carbonates that remain stored in soils or are exported to rivers.

First, the CO2 reacts with lithium to form lithium carbonate (Li2CO3). Subsequently, this lithium carbonate reacts further, resulting in the production of lithium oxide (Li2O) and elemental carbon.

The lack of context minimized the government’s own findings that atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide — the most abundant planet-warming gas in the air — jumped up by a record amount in 2024.