Mongkolpattana & Kengkanruea (2025): The Duality of Carbon Dioxide Removal: Climate Solution and the Reproduction of Structural Inequalities
Chatchai Mongkolpattana, Pimpa Kengkanruea, IN: International Energy & Justice Transition Studies, https://doi.org/10.64229/p15ghb08
Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) technologies have transitioned from a marginal concept to a central pillar of international climate mitigation scenarios, most notably those of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that limit global warming to 1.5 °C. While these technologies promise to counterbalance hard-to-abate emissions and potentially restore atmospheric CO₂ levels, their rapid ascendancy warrants critical social scientific scrutiny. This article argues that CDR possesses a fundamental duality: it is simultaneously a potentially indispensable climate solution and a powerful vector for the reproduction of structural inequalities. Through a systematic, interdisciplinary analysis bridging energy justice and political ecology frameworks, the authors deconstruct this duality.