[blix]

I don't think you need to be so condescending.

There's no need for any sort of "new process for long-term carbon sequestration". We just need to stop taking carbon that is in the process of being sequestered by natural cycles and putting it back into the atmosphere. This is an economic challenge not a technical one.

[ForHackernews]

There is no natural sequestration on any kind of timescale that can possibly help us. During the carboniferous era, bacteria had not yet evolved that could break down dead plants. Now, those bacteria exist.

[blix]

That's a pretty strong absolute, which probably means it is not true. It is possible to oversimplify things from multiple angles.

Recent work[1] has argued that microbal and fungal diversity did not play a significant role in the development of coal deposits, but rather it was a combination of environmental effects that generated swamps where anaerobic conditions prevented plant decay. These conditions still exist today, we are just actively removing them.

[1] https://www.pnas.org/content/113/9/2442