The limitations of CCS and CDR and their grip on future climate

Subject : Environment

Section: Climate change

What are Carbon Capture and storage (CCS) and Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR)?

CCS refers to technologies that can capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) at a source of emissions before it is released into the atmosphere. These sources include the fossil fuel industry (where coal, oil and gas are combusted to generate power) and industrial processes like steel and cement production.
CDR takes the forms of both natural means like afforestation or reforestation and technologies like direct air capture, where machines mimic trees by absorbing CO₂ from their surroundings and storing it underground.
CDR technologies: Enhanced rock weathering, where rocks are broken down chemically; the resulting rock particles can remove CO₂ from the atmosphere. Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) captures and stores CO₂ from burning biomass, like wood.

How much CCS and CDR?

According to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), to have more than a 50% chance of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees C (with no or limited overshoot) assume the world can sequester 5 billion tonnes of CO₂ by 2040. This is more than India emits currently every year.
There is no pathway to 1.5 degrees C in AR6 that doesn’t use CDR.
CDR ought to be used to counterbalance hard-to-abate residual emissions.
the 2023 ‘Land Gap’ report estimated that various governments have proposed to remove CO₂ using around one billion hectares of land.
Challenges:
- CDR projects can adversely affect land rights of indigenous communities and biodiversity and compete with other forms of land-use, like agriculture that is crucial for ensuring food security.

Deep Decarbonization Pathways:

Launched in October 2013 as a joint collaboration between (Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations) IDDRI and (Sustainable Development Solutions Network) SDSN.
Its primary objective was to support a positive outcome at COP21, by demonstrating that country-driven deep decarbonization pathways to 2050 can be a relevant instrument to guide national ambition and actions.
To do so, a group of domestic research teams from 16 countries – all large emitting G20 countries, both developed and emerging – was gathered to elaborate country-driven pathways consistent with the global goal of stabilizing global warming to 2°C.