Description: DOE launched the Carbon Negative Shot, the all-hands-on-deck call for innovation in technologies and approaches that will remove carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere and durably store it.
Carbon dioxide removal encompasses a wide array of approaches that capture carbon dioxide ( CO 2 ) that is already in the atmosphere or ocean . The CO 2 can then be stored in geological, biobased, and ocean reservoirs or in value-added products. For example, it can be stored in low-carbon concrete and natural sinks such as forests, soils, wetlands , and oceans to create negative emissions (i.e., when more carbon is removed from the atmosphere or ocean than is generated by its removal ).
Several climate models, including those produced by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , show that reducing the amount of CO 2 entering the atmosphere from the industrial, power, and transportation sectors alone is not enough to combat climate change. Why? Because reducing emissions doesn’t address the trillions of tons of CO 2 already in our atmosphere, caused by planet-heating pollution that has been accumulating since the industrial age.
So, as we continue to deploy clean energy technologies to create the decarbonized energy and industrial system of the future, we will need carbon dioxide removal to counterbalance emissions from hard-to-abate sectors such as agriculture and shipping so that ultimately, we can remove legacy CO 2 emissions from the atmosphere o nce we reach the Biden-Harris Administration's net-zero goals.