the way that plants absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and store it into other molecules.
It is uncertain whether the video will be available in 2070, but it is clear that in the 2020s, many countries have committed to reach net zero emissions. To do so, governments are penciling in “negative emissions”, or Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) to balance out the greenhouse gases that are still being emitted. CDR is distinct from Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), which works on the source of emissions. CDR involves planting and protecting forests, as well as more permanent methods such as rock weathering and chemical reactions to mimic the way plants absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. We are already seeing a shift in natural processes through technologies such as direct air capture, which uses a type of chemical to selectively bind with CO2 and capture it from the air. These techniques are in early stages of development, but the US government’s net zero plan calls for 500 million metric tons of CO2 removal by 2050, and model simulations that limit warming to 1.5 degrees envision around 3.8 billion tons of permanent carbon removal globally every year. Major companies such as Stripe, Meta, Alphabet, McKinsey, and Microsoft have made commitments to purchase carbon dioxide removal as part of their corporate social responsibility plans, and the US government is offering billions of dollars to get the direct air capture industry off the ground. However, if carbon removal does not scale, then net zero will have been just another way of kicking the can down the road, and we may have no choice but to try everything.