Why we can’t reverse climate change with ‘negative emissions’ technologies

In a much-anticipated report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said the world will need to take dramatic and drastic steps to avoid the catastrophic effects of climate change.

Without rapid and dramatic changes, the world will
face a higher risk of extreme weather and other
 effects of climate change.

Featured prominently in the report is a discussion of a range of techniques for removing carbon dioxide from the air, called Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) technologies or negative emissions technologies (NETs). The IPCC said the world would need to rely significantly on these techniques to avoid increasing Earth’s temperatures above 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, compared to pre-industrial levels.

Given that the level of greenhouse gases continues to rise and the world’s efforts at lowering emissions are falling way short of targets climate scientists recommend, what contribution we can expect from NETs is becoming a critical question. Can they actually work at a big enough scale?

Read the piece from The Conversation by a Senior Research Engineer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Howard J. Herzog -  “Why we can’t reverse climate change with ‘negative emissions’ technologies.”