Net-Zero Emissions – Technologies for CO2 Removal

There's no more debate over the fact that our commercial activities have contributed to warming the planet at an unprecedented and highly dangerous rate. According to the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) recently published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in 2019, the atmospheric concentration of CO₂  was the highest it has been in at least 2 million years and the global surface temperature has been rising for four decades. In response, as of Q2 2021, one-fifth of the world's largest companies have publicly committed to become net-zero in the coming decades.

In this context, carbon dioxide removal (CDR) has emerged as an alternative to compensate for residual and unavoidable emissions, allowing businesses to achieve net-zero carbon emissions and potentially net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. Technology-based CDR solutions reduce emissions by removing CO₂  from the atmosphere through Direct Air Capture (DAC), and storing it in reservoirs or converting it into valuable manufactured products and goods. This offers an excellent opportunity to replace fossil-fuels-based raw materials and enable companies to reduce their environmental footprints.

If implemented at a scale that exceeds existing emissions, CDR can eventually lower the atmospheric CO₂  concentration, as well as reverse the increase in global surface temperature and surface ocean acidification.  Although the large-scale deployment of DAC still needs to overcome economic and implementation challenges, new technological solutions are emerging as promising alternatives for future CO₂  removal.

In this issue of your Ubuntoo digest, we highlight some of the promising technology-based carbon dioxide removal and utilization solutions in our database. These solutions have the potential to play a significant role in enabling states and businesses to achieve their climate targets. If developed commercially, these carbon removal solutions could help address our global climate crisis and create a circular economy for future generations.

In addition to these, we have compiled an extensive repository of curated CDR and DAC solutions for our enterprise clients. Please contact us if you would like to learn more.

Innovation Spotlight

• DAC in a Box - Recovering CO2 from the air at only a fraction of the costs and energy
• Cemvita Factory - Using carbon dioxide for the sustainable production of chemicals and polymers
• CO2pure - Additive that converts greenhouse gases into harmless minerals
• Nordic Electrofuel - Synthetic fuels based on carbon dioxide and renewable power

Newsmakers

Climeworks and Swiss Re sign the world’s first and largest 10-year purchase agreement for direct air capture and storage of carbon dioxide

Climeworks’ carbon dioxide removal via direct air capture technology is the only solution that can reduce atmospheric concentration of CO₂ in a scalable manner by capturing CO₂ from the air today and storing it permanently underground. 

Study shows which carbon capture methods are most beneficial

A recent study by the University of Michigan that looked at methods of carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) revealed which would be most beneficial for the climate and generate a ‘net climate benefit’.

Santos sees big future in burying carbon underground

The head of Australian gas giant Santos says he is increasingly confident of giving the go-ahead to one of the world’s biggest carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in South Australia’s Cooper Basin within months.

Must-Read: AR6 Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis

The Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report addresses the most up-to-date physical understanding of the climate system and climate change, bringing together the latest advances in climate science, and combining multiple lines of evidence from paleoclimate, observations, process understanding, and global and regional climate simulations.