Key Points
Make no mistake, we need to do carbon removal; but we need to do it responsibly Rob Bellamy..
What is carbon dioxide removal?. Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) also referred to as "negative emissions" is a catch-all term for a range of methods by which humans can either directly remove CO2 from the atmosphere using technology or influence its removal via natural systems like forests...
In particular, the new IPCC report notes that CO2 removal will be needed to counterbalance "hard-to-abate residual greenhouse gas emissions" in order to reach net-zero CO2 or greenhouse gas emissions..
"The IPCC reports show that we can prevent irreversible harm to people and the planet if we scale up proven solutions available now: replacing fossil fuels with renewables, increasing energy efficiency, and reducing energy and resource use are the surest path to limiting global warming to 1.5C," says Lili Fuhr, deputy director of the climate and energy programme, at the Center for International Environmental Law (Ciel), a non-profit environmental law firm based in Geneva, Switzerland.. "Building our mitigation strategies on models that instead lock in inequitable growth and conveniently assume away the risks of technofixes like carbon capture and storage and CO2 removal ignores that clarion message and increases the likelihood of overshoot," says Fuhr. (See below for more on climate overshoot)..
Using biochar for CO2 removal, meanwhile, would involve using biomass such as trees or plant matter, which has captured carbon while growing, being pyrolysed (heated in the absence of oxygen) to produce a black, coal-like substance which consists mainly of elemental carbon..
