Carbon dioxide removal “unavoidable” to achieve net zero goals
\nIPCC says forests, exotic tech needed alongside emissions cuts
\nCritics say too many risks from fledgling high-tech fixes
\nExtracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by planting forests and developing controversial high-tech industries will be essential to meet global goals to curb climate change, a U.N. report said on Monday.<\/p>\n
The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said the world could, in theory, halve emissions by 2030.<\/p>\n
But it added that radical reductions in greenhouse gases would be insufficient to achieve the Paris Agreement targets to limit global warming.<\/p>\n
In addition, it said, the world will need “carbon dioxide removal” (CDR) technologies – ranging from planting trees that soak up carbon to grow, to costly and energy-intensive technologies to suck carbon dioxide directly from the air.<\/p>\n
“The deployment of CDR to counterbalance hard-to-abate residual emissions is unavoidable if net zero carbon dioxide or greenhouse gas emissions are to be achieved,” the IPCC said in a report on solutions to global warming, compiled by 278 authors.<\/p>\n
The IPCC report also said CDR was an “essential element” in scenarios to limit warming to the Paris pact goals of well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times, while pursuing efforts to limit the rise to 1.5C.<\/p>\n
Temperatures are already up about 1.1C, stoking more heatwaves, downpours, powerful storms and rising sea levels.<\/p>\n
The IPCC warned that all the options for CDR have drawbacks, including even natural solutions such as planting more trees and managing soils and the oceans to soak up carbon.<\/p>\n
Poorly managed, forest planting can take land from crops needed to feed an expanding world population.<\/p>\n
Trees take years to grow and are also vulnerable to loggers, land clearance, pests, disease and a hotter climate that may threaten forests like the Amazon with more droughts and wildfires.<\/p>\n
“Because CDR could come with new risks, getting CDR ready requires proper governance as well as innovation policy,” said Masahiro Sugiyama, an IPCC author at the University of Tokyo.<\/p>\n
Nairobi-based Susan Chomba, of the World Resources Institute think-tank who was not among the IPCC authors, said there were still huge opportunities overall to protect and expand forests in Africa without harming food production.<\/p>\n
“What I’m worried about is planting the wrong trees in the wrong places,” she said. Plantations of fast-growing eucalyptus trees introduced from Australia, for example, can drain wetlands with their high demand for water and threaten the habitats of African plants and animals.<\/p>\n
The IPCC highlighted two main technological fixes.<\/p>\n
BECCS – bioenergy from carbon capture and storage – is used by power plants and factories to capture and bury carbon emissions from burning or processing wood and other crops.<\/p>\n
DACCS – direct air carbon dioxide capture and storage – meanwhile sucks carbon directly from the air.<\/p>\n
But there is opposition by many environmentalists to such nascent technologies, who fear they will distract from the need for deep cuts in emissions, and will not work.<\/p>\n
“We need to minimise our reliance on commercially unproven technologies, such as BECCS,” said Daniel Quiggin, a senior research fellow at the Chatham House think-tank in London.<\/p>\n
He urged governments to focus on cutting demand for energy, in line with calls by European nations after Russia invaded Ukraine – by turning down thermostats, insulating homes better, and driving and flying less.<\/p>\n
Other experts argued climate change is so severe that all technologies need to be studied.<\/p>\n
“We really need everything,” said Jessica Strefler, a senior scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, who was not involved in the IPCC report.<\/p>\n
“We need demand reductions, we need efficiency, we need emission reductions – and then we can offset the last 5-10%” through measures like forests or technological fixes, she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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