the way that plants pull CO2 out of the atmosphere.It’s called direct air capture.And we can use this to filter CO2 out of the air and then store it underground.
It is uncertain if the video will be available on the Internet in 2070. However, in the 2020s, more than 70 countries have committed to reach net zero emissions, including countries that have been most responsible for emissions so far. This is in order to keep global warming well below two degrees Celsius. To reach the goal, governments are penciling in “negative emissions” or carbon dioxide removal (CDR). This involves putting the carbon back where it belongs, such as planting and protecting forests, as well as rock weathering and direct air capture. We can use natural processes and technologies like direct air capture to capture CO2 from the air, but these techniques are still in early stages of development and have different costs associated with them. There is a concern that people in charge of the faucets will use this as an excuse to avoid making cuts. Are we counting on large amounts of carbon removal for our climate plans? Yes, the US government’s net zero plan calls for 500 million metric tons of CO2 removal by 2050, up from zero today. Model simulations that limit warming to 1.5 degrees envision around 3.8 billion tons of permanent carbon removal globally every year, but so far only a small amount of permanent carbon removal has happened. Is this wishful thinking or foresight? It is possible to reduce costs of technologies like solar PV from $70 per watt in the 1970s to $0.07 per watt or lower in 2023, but the challenge with carbon dioxide removal is that there is no customer for it. However, some major companies have made commitments to purchase carbon dioxide removal as part of their corporate social responsibility plans. It would make sense for the countries that have used the most fossil fuels to do the work of finding out if carbon dioxide removal can scale, but if it doesn’t then net zero will have been just another way of kicking the can down the road. We may now have no choice but to try everything.