Fortunately, the solution may be hidden in the problem. Microbial CO₂ capture to produce value-added products is emerging as a new field in the fight against the climate crisis by reducing the CO₂ levels in the atmosphere.

The use of autotrophic microorganisms that can capture CO₂ and produce chemicals is a long-known process. The production of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) by Cupriavidus necator is one of the famous bioprocesses that converts CO₂ into PHB, which can serve as an alternative to conventional fossil-based plastics. Many other chemoautotrophic organisms are also used to produce ethanol, 2,3-butanediol, butanol, isopropanol, acetone, or isobutyric acid, which serve as platforms for third-generation (3G) biorefineries.

However, we are not limited to natural microorganisms. With developments in synthetic biology, genome mining, and computational tools, scientists are able to integrate synthetic pathways into different host organisms with superior properties or even design new-to-nature pathways with better carbon capturing efficiency. Two chassis organisms, Pichia pastoris (Komagataella phaffii) and Escherichia coli were recently engineered to grow solely on CO₂. Moving one step further, the synthetic P. pastoris strain was shown to be capable of producing organic acids that can be used as building blocks to replace petroleum-based poly-acrylic acids, absorbents, polyesters, plastics, and synthetic fibers using CO₂ as a carbon source. These strains need to be optimized to achieve industrially viable production rates, but they are a first step in proving that CO₂ can be exploited as a feedstock for chemical production.