Carbon dioxide removal

Subject: Environment

Section : Climate change

Context: Innovation in CDR is growing; so is the gap between CDR decided by IPCC and efforts to attain them

About Carbon dioxide removal

CDR is defined as “Anthropogenic activities removing CO2 from the atmosphere and durably storing it in geological, terrestrial, or ocean reservoirs, or in products. It includes existing and potential anthropogenic enhancement of biological or geochemical sinks and direct air capture and storage, but excludes natural CO2 uptake not directly caused by human activities.”
CDR is also known as negative CO2 emissions.
In the context of net zero greenhouse gas emissions targets, CDR is increasingly integrated into climate policy, as a new element of mitigation strategies.
CDR methods include afforestation, agricultural practices that sequester carbon in soils, bio-energy with carbon capture and storage, ocean fertilization, enhanced weathering, and direct air capture when combined with storage.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in its latest report, included 541 pathways that can limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celcius or 2°C. Almost all of these pathways involve some degree of CDR.

Potential for climate change mitigation:

There are two ways to remove carbon dioxide: The conventional method involving land management, primarily via afforestation and reforestation and ‘novel CDR methods’
Currently, over two billion tonnes of CO2 (GtCO2) per year are being removed globally, according to the report.
The current CDR of two GtCO2 per year (99.9 per cent) comes from conventional sources. And only 0.002 GtCO2 (0.1 per cent) is from novel CDR methods such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, biochar and direct air capture with carbon capture and storage, the document stated.
Using existing CDR methods at scales that can be safely and economically deployed, there is potential to remove and sequester up to 10 gigatons of carbon dioxide per year. This would offset greenhouse gas emissions at about a fifth of the rate at which they are being produced.
Innovation in CDR is growing significantly. Governments are investing in public research and development.

CDR Vs Carbon capture and storage (CCS):

CDR can be confused with carbon capture and storage (CCS), a process in which carbon dioxide is collected from point-sources such as gas-fired power plants, whose smokestacks emit CO2 in a concentrated stream. The CO2 is then compressed and sequestered or utilized.
When used to sequester the carbon from a gas-fired power plant, CCS reduces emissions from continued use of the point source, but does not reduce the amount of carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere.