Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) holds the artificial cooling of the Earth in the second half of the century possible. “There is a chance to turn around the trend of global warming by, in addition to rapid emissions reduction towards zero, also using CO2 removal from the atmosphere” said PIK Director Ottmar Edenhofer to the “New Osnabrück Times” (Sunday edition).
“I am convinced that CO2 removal and storage can still save us from the worst” the so-called CO2 vacuum cleaners, large filter systems, are a tool for this. They suck in air, extract climate gas, which is then led into the earth’s crust and turns to stone” the climate researcher explained.
“There are also other possibilities, such as the cultivation of quickly growing biomass for combustion with CO2 capture or the spreading of crushed minerals on soils to accelerate weathering” he elaborated.
However, a real chance of overcoming the climate crisis only exists if emissions are really reduced to near zero. “If that doesn’t work, and we can’t extract massive amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere in the second half of the century, then we will have to adapt to a hostile Earth in many regions” said Edenhofer.
The pace is still far from satisfactory. “The 1.5-degree target is becoming increasingly unattainable, it will likely only be achieved through an ‘overshoot’ with subsequent readjustment” said the PIK director. “Without a more ambitious climate policy, the world is heading towards a warming of around three degrees by the end of the century. The consequences – also for Europe – would be simply fatal. The scientific findings leave no more room for doubt.”
Edenhofer urged the Western world to build an industry for CO2 removal and storage. “We have a proposal: we can add a market for CO2 removal and storage to the European Emissions Trading System” he said.
“I see the industrialized nations, including Europe, also in a moral obligation. Our past emissions have brought the world the climate problems, and the damage is most severe in the global South” said the scientist. “If we through CO2 removal manage to lower the temperatures again, that would be only fair. We can and should in a large scale create a planetary garbage collection to haul out the trash from the atmosphere that we have dumped in.