New ways to remove CO2 from atmosphere must grow much faster, report says

Novel CO2 Removal Technologies Must Scale Up at Unprecedented Rates to Meet 1.5C Target, Study Warns

A landmark report has concluded that novel methods of CO2 removal must expand at rates exceeding even the rapid deployment of solar energy technology.

Were the world to have any realistic prospect of limiting global heating to 1.5C, these emerging technologies would need to achieve what researchers have described as highly ambitious growth trajectories over the coming decade.

According to the study, machines capable of extracting atmospheric carbon directly from the air, along with chemical processes such as biochar production, currently constitute a mere 0.1 percent of the 2.2 billion tonnes of CO2 removed globally each year.

The overwhelming majority of existing removal efforts rely on land-based interventions, notably reforestation, which face inherent spatial constraints.

Researchers have emphasized that the next five years will prove critical in determining whether these nascent technologies can fulfill their anticipated role.

The report revealed that novel forms of carbon dioxide removal have been growing at approximately 40 percent annually, yet they start from such a negligible base that a structural decline in this growth rate could prove catastrophic.

To bridge the gap between governmental pledges and the requirements of the Paris climate agreement, these technologies would need to match or surpass the expansion rates historically achieved by solar panels and electric vehicles.

Only one-fifth of planned capacity in recent years has actually been delivered, the researchers cautioned.

William Lamb, a scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and co-author of the report, argued that current national commitments fall far short of what climate science demands.

Countries have collectively pledged roughly 2.7 billion tonnes of carbon removal by 2035 and approximately 3.6 billion by 2050, yet established climate pathways require substantially greater volumes.

Should governments fail to accelerate investment in these technologies, the prospect of meeting the 1.5C target will diminish considerably, the study concluded.