CO2 removal on the agenda
As things stands now, thew world is heading for a climate disaster of gigantic proportions. We’re about to fail the Paris agreement unless more is done.
The current trajectory on temperature may even lead to tipping points being passed, and with it comes an unknown effect on the future. It could lead to extinction of animals, and it’s not even guaranteed that humanity will survive.
On the large timescale of the universe, it’s fully possible for humanity to go extinct. It can happen if we do some small mistake such as changing the climate we need for survival. Our livable temperature span is very narrow.
The world must begin removing CO2 from the atmosphere now. EU governments already have the goal of net zero emissions by 2050. It’s good and it’s possible to reach, but it’s not enough.
If we’re going to achieve the goal of the Paris agreement, we need to both reduce emissions and remove historical emissions at the same time.
All technology to remove CO2 already exist. It can be scaled up to make a real difference. The reason it’s not already being done is ignorance by people and inaction by companies and governments.
We need to raise awareness of carbon removal methods and the importance of starting now. Waiting until 2050 to start this process would be a big mistake. Governments in Europe could, and should, put CO2 removal on the agenda.
Removals can be a new program and run in parallel with activities for reductions. It should not interfere with the speed of reductions. We can let EU countries begin removal of the historical emissions from Europe. We can begin on the older side of history and remove the emissions from steam factories.
At that time people had no other choice than to use coal. Unfortunately their activities damaged the climate, but our current society stands on the shoulders of fossil fuel. We should not blame previous generations, they did their best in pursuit of a better future. We now have a better future and luckily we have the technology to fix the problem. It’s our responsibility to do so.
Net zero should be a milestone, not the end goal. By scaling up removals and speeding up reductions we can pass that milestone sooner than 2050. Europe need to go beyond net zero emissions to become climate positive.