The elimination of CO₂ faces its main challenge: its price

Energy subsidies: the swiss Buildings Program must be saved

"If the Federal Council is now considering abolishing the program — or at least withdrawing the federal contribution — it is mainly because of the windfall effects it generates," explains Philippe Thalmann, professor of environmental economics at EPFL.

To limit the increase in the planet's average temperature to less than 2 °C above preindustrial levels, and ideally to 1.5 °C, humanity faces a dual challenge: massively reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, but also remove a large amount of them from the atmosphere.

While, on paper, the path has been charted for some time, the necessary efforts still need to be quantified. Currently, we have a fairly good idea of the CO₂ emission levels that must not be exceeded. However, the potential for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) remains a less well-understood area of analysis.

Whether through natural solutions such as forest restoration or technological solutions such as CO₂ capture and storage, two researchers from the University of Oxford, Ben Caldecott and Injy Johnstone, sought to establish what the costs would be. They aimed to determine what our "carbon removal budget" (CRB) for the planet would be.

Here is the summary of their publication "The Carbon Removal Budget: theory and practice" in five key points:

1️⃣

The benefits of establishing a CRB would be numerous, starting with helping states find a good balance between reducing CO₂ emissions and removing them. At a more macroeconomic level, it would stimulate the development of a favorable regulatory and fiscal infrastructure. In short, the CRB would provide useful guidance and guardrails for public and private actors during this transition period.

2️⃣

The current assessment of the global CRB shows a near-term shortfall. In other words, current carbon removal capacities are insufficient to meet the pathway set by the IPCC. The authors estimate that between 2025 and 2100 the world will face a carbon removal shortfall of 49 gigatonnes of CO₂ in a scenario where warming is kept to around 1.5 °C.

3️⃣

This situation implies the need to rapidly increase investment in existing carbon removal solutions, while taking into account the geophysical, environmental, technological, economic, institutional and sociocultural limitations they entail.

4️⃣

Many approaches are possible to establish this carbon removal budget, such as those based on population, development needs, or historical emissions of countries and sectors. For an optimal allocation, the two authors call for negotiation: "The thresholds for these price and volume levels within the global CRB could be negotiated each year by the Parties to the Paris Agreement."

5️⃣

For states, the advantage of a CRB will be twofold. First, it will enable countries to establish at the national level the need to implement CO₂ removal targets, and then to negotiate transparently a fair allocation of obligations (and opportunities) at the international level. For private actors, establishing a "carbon removal budget" will help them identify the strengths and weaknesses of their transition plans and, ultimately, generate a powerful investment engine for the economy.

In conclusion, the two scientists remind us that the main objective must remain reducing our CO₂ emissions. According to the two authors, if removal is to be undertaken at larger scale, the first priority for companies and governments that wish to remove carbon should be to reduce emissions.

This article has been automatically translated using AI. If you notice any errors, please don't hesitate to contact us.

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