An influential United Nations panel has cast doubt on the feasibility of sucking carbon pollution directly from the atmosphere, threatening to stymie a climate tool just beginning to gain traction. In a lengthy note released last week, the U.N. panel called carbon removal technology “unproven,” with “unknown” risks — stunning the nascent industry that many scientists say will be essential to curbing climate change as the world inches past target warming thresholds, writes Corbin Hiar. The skepticism comes as companies pursuing carbon removal technologies are set to rake in serious financing. Not only is the Biden administration preparing to sink billions of dollars into propping up the industry, but JPMorgan Chase, the world's largest investment bank, just announced a $200 million investment, writes Avery Ellfeldt. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. The U.N. panel’s position on carbon removal systems could affect the trajectory of the industry. That’s because under the 2015 Paris climate agreement, the panel is tasked with standing up a global trading system for carbon offsets, Corbin writes. If direct air capture qualifies as an offset, companies might fund the industry to counteract their greenhouse gas emissions. The industry’s supporters are calling foul at the report, maintaining it inaccurately dismisses the potential for carbon removal technology to contribute to economic development. Wil Burns, co-director of American University’s Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy, said part of the problem is that carbon removal companies and advocates were not well organized in sending in comments to the U.N. panel, leaving the picture of the industry incomplete. “It seems the carbon removal industry really shot themselves in the foot,” Burns said. “I’m not totally in the bag on [carbon dioxide removal],” he added. “But I do know this was a bit of a hatchet job.” The fledgling carbon removal industry is now trying to provide feedback to the United Nations before it makes any final decisions on the Paris Agreement’s emissions trading system, which could come by the end of November. Carbon dioxide removal “is a new commercial sector, and the range of potential pathways are at varying stages of discovery, development, and deployment,” Ben Rubin, the executive director of the trade group the Carbon Business Council, said Wednesday in a letter to the U.N. panel. Today, only 18 facilities worldwide suck carbon out of the atmosphere and store it underground. Altogether, they capture less than 10,000 metric tons of CO2 per year — far less than the billions of tons scientists estimate need to be removed to reach climate goals.
| 
No comments:
Post a Comment