by Oliver Gordon on energymonitor.ai, January 12, 2024
„Energy Monitor talks to think tank RMI about its ground-breaking new research on carbon dioxide removal, laying out – for the first time anywhere – the status of all 32 known approaches to CDR.“
Alina Brad, Tobias Haas, Etienne Schneider IN: Frontiers in Climate 5, https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2023.1268736
Net zero targets have rapidly become the guiding principle of climate policy, implying the use of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) to compensate for residual emissions. At the same time, the extent of (future) residual emissions and their distribution between economic sectors and activities has so far received little attention from a social science perspective. This constitutes a research gap as the distribution of residual emissions and corresponding amounts of required CDR is likely to become highly contested in the political economy of low-carbon transformation. Here, the authors investigate what function CDR performs from the perspective of sectors considered to account for a large proportion of future residual emissions (cement, steel, chemicals, and aviation) as well as the oil and gas industry in the EU. They also explore whether they claim residual emissions to be compensated for outside of the sector, whether they quantify these claims and how they justify them.
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).
Roads2Removal, December 2023
The Roads to Removal (R2R) report is a national collaborative effort by more than 68 scientists, and 13 institutions that examines regionally specific opportunities to address the pressing issue of climate change and the urgent need to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and store it at the gigaton scale. R2R researchers evaluated various techniques for CDR at the county level based on factors such as feasibility, capacity, impact, and cost. Chapters in the report include Forests, Soils, Biomass Carbon Removal and Storage (BiCRS) and Direct Air Capture (DAC), as well as the feasibility and costs of transporting CO2 and storing it underground. The report also examines the environmental and socioeconomic co-benefits and the significance of avoiding and reducing negative impacts on people and the environment.
Rupert F. Stuart-Smith , Lavanya Rajamani, Joeri Rogelj, Thom Wetzer IN: Science 382 (6672), pp. 772-774, DOI: 10.1126/science.adi9332
In the lead up to this year’s United Nations (UN) Climate Conference (COP28) in Dubai, the authors present scientific and legal bases for our argument that emission-reduction pathways that depend heavily on CDR may contravene norms and principles of international law.
Gregory F. Nemet, Matthew J. Gidden, Jenna Greene, Cameron Roberts, William F. Lamb, Jan C. Minx, Stephen M. Smith, Oliver Geden, Keywan Riahi IN: Joule 2023, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2023.11.001
This commentary shows that the deployment of novel CO2 removal (CDR) over the next decade, its formative phase, is likely to be consequential in determining whether CDR will be available at scale and in time to reach net-zero CO2 emissions consistent with the Paris Agreement’s temperature goal.
Thursday, November 30, 7 – 8pm CET
Join Ocean Visions for the second webinar in their series on current innovations in measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) for ocean-based carbon dioxide removal (CDR). They will spotlight leading startups doing electrochemical CDR to get a deeper understanding of the current state of MRV science, how it’s being applied, and the challenges and solutions advancing this important field. Talks by CDR scientists Erika La Plante, PhD (Equatic) and Sophie Chu, PhD (Captura) will be followed by a moderated audience Q&A.
Kevin Anderson, Holly Jean Buck, Lili Fuhr, Oliver Geden, Glen P. Peters, Eve Tamme IN: Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-023-00493-y
Various methods of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) are being pursued in response to the climate crisis, but they are mostly not proven at scale. Climate experts are divided over whether CDR is a necessary requirement or a dangerous distraction from limiting emissions. In this Viewpoint, six experts offer their views on the CDR debate.
Ottmar Edenhofer, Max Franks, Matthias Kalkuhl, Artur Runge-Metzger; CESifo Working Paper No. 10370
This working paper highlights the importance of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies for climate policy. The authors first describe their role in iconic transformation pathways and discuss removal costs and storage duration of different technologies. Based on economic principles, the authors characterize optimal removal flows and reservoirs for non-permanent removals. Furthermore, they discuss different pricing regimes that achieve an optimal allocation under different information and liability conditions.
carbonbusinesscouncil.org, Nov 8
The Carbon Business Council and Climate Collective published a white paper about Digital Infrastructure for Carbon Removal. Developed by a working group of Carbon Business Council members and affiliates and published with generous support from the Climate Collective, the white paper outlines key challenges the carbon removal sector faces; identifies opportunities where digital infrastructure can offer solutions to help address these challenges; and puts forth a set of focused recommendations for the carbon removal sector on the adoption of digital technologies.
