From bioengineering large natural systems and tinkering with genes to redesign biology, to copying natural processes with an engineering twist – the world is finding new ways to cut emissions and clean up dirty industries.

Can nature, enhanced by human ingenuity, save us from climate change? Bioscientists are scouring the living world for solutions to meet urgent climate goals. Natural carbon sinks already absorb about half the áá in the atmosphere. Estimates vary but by 2050, á agreed targets will depend on removing and storing around 10 gigatonnes of carbon every year.

Marian Krueger heads a not-for-profit carbon removal accelerator, Remove. “The scale of the challenge is so vast there’s no single solution that will get us there” she says. “Our task is to use biology as efficiently as we can.”

Times of crisis spark innovation, and recent years have seen an explosion in initiatives. Below are a handful of pioneering attempts to leverage the natural world to tackle global warming.

Oceans...