A discussion paper by Jörg Tremmel, Bernhard Steinberger, Sven Linow, Christian Breyer, Christoph Gerhards, Doris Vollmer, Josef Zens, Carsten Fichter, Christian Masurenko 6. June 2024, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11493905.
(Translated from the original German version doi: 10.5281/zenodo.10828229.)
The new synthesis report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects that it will hardly be possible to limit global warming to 1.5 °C. Unabated global warming poses an existential risk to the well-being of future generations. In order to avoid reaching tipping points in the Earth system, not only must new greenhouse gas emissions be urgently reduced to zero, but we must also remove CO₂ from the atmosphere (negative emissions). There is no remaining CO₂ budget, because there are already hundreds of gigatons too much CO₂ in the air. We must now radically change course, even if it is years late.
In addition to climate ethics aspects – with consequences for the financial viability of this approach – this article focuses on the physical and technical feasibility. How and by when could the framework for negative emissions in the gigaton range be created and what could the capture and storage of CO₂ look like in concrete terms? In any case, the German Carbon Dioxide Storage Act is no longer appropriate in this new phase of climate policy, as it prohibits the transportation and storage of CO₂.