A new study by researchers from UCLA, the University of Oxford and five other institutions, investigates the capturing of carbon dioxide and turning it into commercial products, including fuels and chemicals, soil management and forestry, and building materials. Their research published in Nature is the most comprehensive study on the subject. The study included processes that would capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by industrial processes as well as capturing waste gases. They also looked at capturing it through photosynthesis.
Emily Carter, a distinguished professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and co-author of the paper stated:
The analysis we presented makes clear that carbon dioxide utilization can be part of the solution to combat climate change, but only if those with the power to make decisions at every level of government and finance commit to changing policies and providing market incentives across multiple sectors, The urgency is huge and we have little time left to effect change.
The study found that the best-case scenario would see more than 10 gigatons of carbon dioxide captured. However, on average each different pathway would use around 0.5 gigatons of carbon dioxide per year before it could escape into the atmosphere. One metric ton equals 1,000 kilograms, and a gigaton is about 1.1 billion U.S. tons. How much is captured depends on which process is used and varies greatly.
As of 2018, our carbon dioxide emissions are increasing at more than 1% every year. This simply cannot continue for us to reverse the effects of climate change. Cameron Hepburn, one of the lead authors, and director of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and Environment is quoted:
Greenhouse gas removal is essential to achieve net-zero carbon emissions and stabilize the climate. We haven’t reduced our emissions fast enough, so now we also need to start pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Governments and corporations are moving on this, but not quickly enough. The promise of carbon dioxide utilization is that it could act as an incentive for carbon dioxide removal and could reduce emissions by displacing fossil fuels.
It must be noted that careful analysis and further testing will need to be done to determine the overall effect on the climate. Certain methods are more likely to be implemented because they are better business models. One example would be in different kinds of plastic production, using carbon dioxide is environmentally friendlier and more profitable than using conventional hydrocarbons. It can also remove up to three times more carbon dioxide than it uses.
The authors made a point that there is no “magic bullet” approach.
Emily Carter went on to say:
I would start by incentivizing the most obvious solutions—most of which already exist—that can act at the gigaton scale in agriculture, forestry, and construction. At the same time, I would aggressively invest in R&D across academia, industry and government labs—much more so than is being done in the U.S., especially compared to China—in higher-tech solutions to capture and convert carbon dioxide to useful products that can be developed alongside solutions that already exist in agriculture, forestry and construction.
One thing is for sure, we need to take action now before it ends up being too late!
Along with the researchers from UCLA and Oxford, the study’s other authors are from Imperial College London’s Centre for Environmental Policy, the University of Leeds’ School of Earth and Environment, the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change in Berlin, the Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and Humboldt University in Berlin.
