A recent study published in Nature has raised alarms over the effectiveness of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) techniques in averting a climate disaster. Researchers warn that even with intensified efforts to extract CO2 from the atmosphere, the world is on track to miss the critical warming target of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has highlighted the potential of CDR to mitigate warming by reducing greenhouse gases already present in the atmosphere. However, the new research emphasizes that CDR cannot address other severe impacts of climate change, such as rising sea levels and disrupted ocean currents.
\"Even if you've brought temperatures back down again, the world we will be looking at will not be the same,\" said Carl-Friedrich Schleussner from Austria's International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis, one of the study's authors. The findings reveal that lowering peak temperatures is more challenging than expected, especially as melting permafrost and shrinking peatlands release additional methane, exacerbating global warming.
Currently, CDR methods remove about 2 billion tonnes of CO2 annually. To achieve global climate goals, this figure needs to increase to between 7 and 9 billion tonnes each year, according to a separate report released in June. However, Joeri Rogelj of Imperial College London points out the limitations, noting that expanding CDR could conflict with essential land uses like biodiversity conservation and food production.
Moreover, the study highlights the daunting scale of CO2 removal required to reverse even minor temperature overshoots. An overshoot of just 0.5 degrees Celsius would necessitate the removal of over a trillion tons of CO2, a target that currently seems unattainable. Rogelj emphasizes, \"Only through ambitious emissions reductions in the near term can we effectively reduce the risks from climate change.\"
The research underscores the urgent need for immediate and substantial emissions cuts to complement any carbon removal efforts, ensuring a comprehensive approach to tackling the multifaceted challenges of climate change.
Reference(s):
Carbon removal no solution if world misses warming target, study finds
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