Voget-Kleschin et al. (2024): Reassessing the need for carbon dioxide removal: moral implications of alternative climate target pathways

Lieske Voget-Kleschin, Christian Baatz, Clare Heyward, Detlef Van Vuuren, Nadine Mengis IN: Global Sustainability 7, e1, https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2023.21

The 1.5 °C goal has given impetus to CDR measures, such as bioenergy combined with carbon capture and storage, or afforestation. However, land-based CDR options compete with food production and biodiversity protection. Van Vuuren et al. (2018) looked at alternative pathways including lifestyle changes, low-population projections, or non-CO₂ greenhouse gas mitigation, to reach the 1.5 °C temperature objective. Underlined by the recently published IPCC AR6 WGIII report, they show that demand-side management measures are likely to reduce the need for CDR. Yet, policy measures entailed in these scenarios could be associated with ethical problems themselves. In this paper, the authors therefore investigate ethical implications of four alternative pathways as proposed by Van Vuuren et al. (2018).

LINK