• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
Celebrating our 1,000th edition. The climate news you need
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  FEATURED
BREAKING: U.S. Senate Passes Historic $369B Climate Package August 7, 2022
Researchers Point To ‘Dangerously Unexplored’ Risk of Global Climate Catastrophe August 2, 2022
Koch Network Pressures Manchin, Sinema as Advocates Praise ‘Game Changing’ Climate Deal August 2, 2022
Coastal GasLink Cost Skyrockets 70% to $11.2B August 2, 2022
Ottawa Releases Regulatory ‘Frame’ for Net-Zero Grid by 2035 August 2, 2022
Next
Prev

Exotic Carbon Capture Techniques Prop Up Fossil Interests, Aren’t Needed to Hit 1.5°C, New Study Asserts

February 19, 2019
Reading time: 3 minutes

Pexels

Pexels

67
SHARES
 

The urgency and scope of the climate crisis are being needlessly exploited to drive fringe ideas like carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and solar radiation management (SRM) from the margins to the mainstream, according to a hard-hitting report issued last week by the Washington-based Center for International Environmental Law and Berlin’s Heinrich Böell Foundation.

“Almost all geoengineering proposals serve to entrench and benefit fossil fuel interests rather than solve the climate crisis,” the report concludes. “By promoting the development of new fossil fuels and costly fossil infrastructure, by diverting resources away from proven mitigation strategies to costly boondoggles, and by sustaining the myth that meaningful climate action can be safely delayed or narrowly constrained, geoengineering threatens to undermine real solutions at the time when they are most urgently needed.”

In a joint release, the two organizations contend that:

  • Enhanced oil recovery would be the ultimate beneficiary of 85% of U.S. subsidies for carbon capture and storage (CCS) and Direct Air Capture (DAC) technologies.
  • CCS proponents believe the technology could increase coal consumption by 40% and lead to the extraction of 923 million additional barrels of oil, in the U.S. alone, by 2040.
  • Direct Air Capture, notwithstanding the glowing media it’s received in recent months, is a highly energy-intensive technology that “will be used primarily to produce hydrocarbon fuels that will themselves be burned, resulting in either net carbon emissions or massive diversions of renewable energy for uncertain benefits while simultaneously slowing the transition from internal combustion engines.”
  • Fossil industry advocates “openly believe CCS and CDR are essential to save coal, ensure the future of oil and gas, and ‘unlock’ unburnable carbon.”
  • Oil companies, in turn, are relying on carbon dioxide removal to justify continued heavy reliance on oil and gas at least until 2100, despite the IPCC’s 2030 deadline to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 45%.
  • Proponents of one of the most controversial geoengineering methods, Solar Radiation Management, have for decades “cited the potential to delay or minimize climate mitigation measures as a primary justification for its use.” They assume countries “will inject sulphate or other aerosols into the skies for decades to centuries to come—and deploy CDR to bring emissions back down.”

The report suggests geoengineering is becoming the new climate denial as earlier forms are discredited, and affirms that humanity “must and can keep warming below 1.5°C”, without relying on geoengineering.

“Confronting the challenge of climate change is not a matter of future technology, but present political will and economic investment,” the report states. “While most proposed approaches to CDR and SRM remain speculative, the technologies we need to reduce emissions, transform our economy, and confront the climate crisis are available, proven, and scalable.”

The report suggests powerful industry influences are keeping the advocacy for CCS and CDR afloat, and cites a scenario in the IPCC’s 1.5°C pathways report that avoids “speculative” CDR technologies while “making more limited use of nature-based carbon reductions achieved through afforestation, reforestation, forest conservation, and land use.” CIEL and Böell stress that “these pathways place an early, heavy priority on reducing energy demand and rapidly phasing out fossil fuels. “

And the two organizations assess alternatives to geoengineering as well as its serious drawbacks. They note that renewable energy is already “eliminating the rationale” for coal and natural gas in electricity production, with the pace of renewables deployment consistently exceeding official forecasts. The same trend applies to transportation, and not just electric cars—India is accelerating the electrification of two-wheel vehicles that deliver most of its mobility, China has been going all-in on electric buses, and “early innovators in the electric truck space [are] now racing against startups and global manufacturers alike to bring fleets of battery electric trucks to both long-haul and short-haul markets.”

In contrast to the exotic, iffy technologies receiving the lion’s share of the attention and subsidy support, “low-tech, win-win approaches to climate mitigation and carbon removal are ready to be scaled up,” CIEL and Böell declare. They cite IPCC comments on “the enhancement of terrestrial and coastal carbon storage in plants and soils such as afforestation and reforestation, soil carbon enhancement, and other conservation, restoration, and management options for natural and managed land, and coastal ecosystems.”



in Auto & Alternative Vehicles, Batteries / Storage, CCS & Negative Emissions, China, Cities & Communities, Coal, COP Conferences, Ending Emissions, Energy / Carbon Pricing & Economics, Energy Subsidies, First Peoples, Forests & Deforestation, India, International Agencies & Studies, Oceans, Oil & Gas, Soil & Natural Sequestration, Supply Chains & Consumption, United States

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Bernard Spragg/flickr
Energy Politics

$12.3B in Profit over 3 Months as Big Fossils Reject Federal Emissions Cap

August 11, 2022
208
Σ64/Wikimedia Commons
Hydrogen

Global Push for Hydrogen Sidesteps Knowledge Gaps on Climate Impacts

August 11, 2022
234
Media, Messaging, & Public Opinion

Focus Blame for Climate Change on Fossils and Governments, Ecoanalytics Advises

August 11, 2022
108

Comments 3

  1. Peter Sircom Bromley says:
    3 years ago

    This article suggests atmospheric carbon dioxide removal, using direct air capture technology, is some kind of exotic geoengineering stunt that encourages continued fossil fuel combustion and climate denial. This is an outdated and misinformed argument.

    In fact, carbon dioxide removal will be essential to preventing catastrophic climate change. It is a pollution cleanup and disposal measure that needs rapid, worldwide implementation. Essentially, it is restorative. To argue otherwise is its own kind of denial and a misreading of the problem at hand.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

Bernard Spragg/flickr

$12.3B in Profit over 3 Months as Big Fossils Reject Federal Emissions Cap

August 11, 2022
208
Σ64/Wikimedia Commons

Global Push for Hydrogen Sidesteps Knowledge Gaps on Climate Impacts

August 11, 2022
234
Protect The Planet

Trans Mountain Work Site Blocks Early Salmon Run on Coquihalla River, Local Observers Say

August 11, 2022
332
François GOGLINS/wikimedia commons

Corrosion Problem Shutters Half of France’s Nuclear Reactors

August 2, 2022
1.5k
Joseph Brent/Flickr

Green Hydrogen Will Cost Less than Fossil-Fuelled ‘Blue’, Shell CEO Admits

August 7, 2022
746
Early stages of construction on the Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor in France

Failing French Nuclear Plants Drive Up Electricity Costs as Heat Waves Cut Production

August 8, 2022
451

Recent Posts

Focus Blame for Climate Change on Fossils and Governments, Ecoanalytics Advises

August 11, 2022
108
TheKurgan/Wikipedia

Ontario Pension Giant May Be Getting the Memo on Fossil Divestment, Members Say

August 11, 2022
33
@stan_sdcollins/Twitter

Stranded Communities Hope for Emergency Food Supplies as Newfoundland Wildfires Rage

August 11, 2022
14
Maurizio Pesce/Wikimedia Commons

Tesla Lobbying Points to Ontario as Possible EV Manufacturing Site

August 11, 2022
34
MENA/Flickr

Ontario Gains from U.S. EV Tax Credit, But Plans No Incentives for Local Drivers

August 11, 2022
37
Twitter

Shelling of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Plant Raises Fears for Nuclear Safety

August 11, 2022
32
Next Post
Hunting for food and medicine is driving pangolins towards extinction. Image: By David Brossard

Biggest animals face extinction for food

The Energy Mix

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}