A group of European scientists wants to mitigate the effects of climate change and advance renewable energy sources by building millions of artificial islands throughout the world’s oceans capable of converting atmospheric carbon dioxide into fuel.

Publishing their work in PNAS, the researchers highlight the challenges in meeting such an “ambitious proposal” but argue that the technology to build the infrastructure already exists. However, a fully implementable and realistic plan simply hasn’t yet been proposed.

“Humankind must cease CO2 emissions from fossil fuel burning if dangerous climate change is to be avoided,” wrote the authors, adding that liquid carbon-based energy carriers such as these often lack practical alternatives for application.

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