A new generation of “carbon-negative” technology could be an important factor in meeting a new global goal of 1.5°C average warming that will almost certainly involve watching emissions exceed the limit, then finding some realistic way of removing excess carbon from the atmosphere.
“Most people are aware of an older carbon capture technology, carbon capture and storage (CCS), but it is very expensive and at best carbon neutral,” report a pair of guest authors in the Globe and Mail. “CCS does not remove carbon that is already in the atmosphere,” even though the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change considers that ability essential to avert catastrophic climate change.
- Concise headlines. Original content. Timely news and views from a select group of opinion leaders. Special extras.
- Everything you need, nothing you don’t.
- The Weekender: The climate news you need.
But “carbon-negative tech is the most promising way out of the climate-change nightmare,” Chichilnisky and Polychroniou write, and “global deployment of CO2 removal strategies is not only feasible, but critical.”
Chichilnisky is one of the founders of Global Thermostat, a Silicon Valley company that developed technology to suck carbon dioxide out of the air for use in a variety of products. She and Polychroniou also cite another business, CarbonCure, that developed a process to sequester CO2 in concrete.
“Carbon-negative technologies still have a way to go in terms of public acceptance,” they write. “But they are already a reality, and the scientific and policy-making community need to work in tandem in order to save the planet.”
