The US government is offering $3.5 billion in grants to companies that capture carbon dioxide using a process known as direct air capture (DAC).
DAC technology uses chemical reactions to remove carbon dioxide from the air, allowing it to then be stored in underground caverns or used in applications such as making concrete.
The main selling point of DAC compared with carbon capture technology used at industrial sites is that it can pull historical emissions out of the sky.
But some groups are concerned that DAC gives fossil fuel companies cover to keep up production, especially in minority and low-income areas near heavy emitting facilities.
As the need for climate action intensifies, governments and industries are exploring how to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.
The U.S. government has offered $3.5 billion in grants to companies that will capture and permanently store the gas using a process known as Direct Air Capture (DAC).
Here’s how the cutting-edge tecnology works, along with it potential and limitations.
How does it work?
DAC technology uses chemical reactions to remove carbon dioxide from the air, which can then be stored in underground caverns or used in products or applications such as making concrete or aviation fuel.
The world’s largest operating DAC plant, Climeworks’ Orca plant in Iceland, can remove 4,000 tonnes of CO2 a year, which is then stored deep underground.
The U.S. programme is seeking to fund large-scale plants capable of removing a million tonnes a year.
What about trees?
Natural methods of carbon removal such as planting trees and forest management are expected to play a huge role in helping combat climate change. Doing so is relatively inexpensive, at less than $50 per ton, according to the World Resources Institute, compared to technology such as DAC, which currently costs in the high triple digits per ton.
Many scientists, however, believe technical solutions will be needed, partly due to the amount of lnd that would have to be taken up if all the required removals were made through using trees.
Are there other types of carbon removals?
Other techniques include bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). Through this method, electricity is produced by burning biomass like wood pellets and capturing and storing the emissions generated during the process.
Biochar is a form of charcoal produced when organic matter such as leaves, wood or straw is heated at high temperatures without oxygen, leaving a carbon rich substance that can be used as fertilizer, thereby storing the carbon in soil.
Techniques are also being developed to remove CO2 from seawater.
Have you read?
Companies are sucking carbon from the atmosphere using ‘direct air capture’. How does it work?
The level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has hit a record high, according to the UN
What about CCS?
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology is traditionally deployed at industrial smokestacks such as fossi fuel power plants, filtering out the CO2 and storing it before it reaches the atmosphere.
Unless the CCS technology is capturing more CO2 than the industrial process is emitting at the site it would not usually be deemed a removal.
The main selling point of removals compared to CCS is that it can pull historical emissions out of the sky and store them in soils, rocks, trees, oceans, and products, moving beyond emissions reductions to permanent removal.
Discover
What’s the World Economic Forum doing about the transition to clean energy?
Moving to clean energy is key to combating climate change, yet in the past five years, the energy transition has stagnated.
Energy consumption and production contribute to two-thirds of global emissions, and 81% of the global energy system is still based on fossil fuels, the same percentage as 30 years ago. Plus, improvements in the energy intensity of the global economy (the amount of energy used per unit of economic activity) are slowing. In 2018energy intensity improved by 1.2%, the slowest rate since 2010.
Effective policies, private-sector action and public-private cooperation are needed to create a more inclusive, sustainable, affordable and secure global energy system.
Benchmarking progress is essential to a successful transition. The World Economic Forum’s Energy Transition Index, which ranks 115 economies on how well they balance energy security and access with environmental sustainability and affordability, shows that the biggest challenge facing energy transition is the lack of readiness among the world’s largest emitters, including US, China, India and Russia. The 10 countries that score the highest in terms of readiness account for only 2.6% of global annual emissions.
To future-proof the global energy system, the Forum’s Shaping the Future of Energy and Materials Platform is working on initiatives including, Systemic Efficiency, Innovation and Clean Energy and the Global Battery Alliance to encourage and enable nnovative energy investments, technologies and solutions.
Additionally, the Mission Possible Platform (MPP) is working to assemble public and private partners to further the industry transition to set heavy industry and mobility sectors on the pathway towards net-zero emissions. MPP is an initiative created by the World Economic Forum and the Energy Transitions Commission.
Is your organisation interested in working with the World Economic Forum? Find out more here.
What do green groups think?
While most environmental activists acknowledge some carbon removals will be needed for global climate targets to be met, they are concerned companies could use carbon removal development as an excuse not to reduce their emissions by as much as possible in the first place.
Many green groups also question the use of biomass for electricity and are sceptical over technological solutions such as DAC.
Some groups are focused on the environmental justice implications of DAC, concerned that the techology gives fossil fuel companies cover to keep up production, especially in minority and low-income areas near heavy emitting facilities.