The rush to get rid of carbon is becoming a dangerous focus

Some argue that governments should set separate targets so that carbon sequestration (sometimes called “negative emissions”) is not taken into account in emissions reduction targets.

“Failure to do so has already hampered climate policy, adding to the expected future contribution of negative emissions to climate models, while also hiding the extent and pace of investment required to deliver negative emissions,” argued McLaren and others. Climate limits 2019.

Sweden has made a version of this, Reducing emissions by at least 85% from 1990 levels by 2045 and largely based on carbon sequestration, with the rest of the way to zero. The European Union introduced a similar provision within the proposal European Climate Law, limiting the role of carbon sequestration to 225 million tonnes, or just over 2 percentage points of the overall target: a 55% reduction in emissions by 2030.

“It has now been established that most of the EU’s mitigation efforts will need to be made to reduce emissions, as it will help to make the extra kilometer along with the removal of carbon,” he said. he wrote Frances Wang and Mark Preston Aragonès, both of the ClimateWorks Foundation.

Early stage and high risk

Sally Benson, a professor of energy resource engineering at Stanford, now sees money going to carbon-removal startups as very similar to the clean technology situation of the 2000s, when investments were made at very early stages and high risk.

Many of these investments were unsuccessful, as companies developing advanced biofuels and alternative solar materials failed in the market.

“I’m a little worried about the carbon removal technologies we’re in there,” he said in an email. “Like BECCS, they are adults and some of them can be very successful and cause material change [bioenergy with carbon capture and storage], they are receiving much less attention compared to less mature technologies such as direct air capture and mineralization. “

But he stresses that technology may be crucial in the future, and that “we need to start somewhere.”