Google has published a new paper that provides comprehensive guidelines on combining carbon dioxide removal (CDR) with superpollutant abatement.
The paper, titled Sustained Neutralization of the Warming Response to Emissions through a Portfolio of GHG Mitigation Strategies, was put together by lead author Ella Hughes, in collaboration with Zeke Hausfather and Christopher Van Arsdale, as well as many other experts who were consulted during the writing process.
As Google’s Head of Carbon Removal Randy Spock explained in a publication, measuring impact in terms of temperature over time enables the stacking of multiple climate interventions—such as tackling superpollutants, CDR technologies, and nature restoration efforts—in a rigorous way that neutralizes the emissions’ warming impact right now and in every year ahead.
Companies working on their own net-zero goals can use both short- and long-term CDR solutions, as well as superpollutant abatement. These actions deliver climate impacts across distinct timescales, and they can serve as valuable complementary tools to address both the acute near-term and long-term equilibrium warming response to emissions.
Due to their distinct impact timescales, accounting approaches in this combining scenario need to ensure emissions remain compensated across all time horizons, assessing the impact of each mitigation strategy as a function of time.
The newly released paper answers exactly this need by proposing an accounting approach built on sustained warming neutralization.
Its method translates the climate impacts of both emissions and mitigation into a single metric—the continuous global mean surface temperature response—aiming to ensure the neutralization of the warming response to an emission in both the near- and long-term.
This warming neutralization approach structurally aligns emission compensation claims with global goals for temperature stabilization.
Relevant: Google To Tackle Atmospheric Superpollutants With Two New Partnerships
The paper authors have also designed a specific method through which organizations can use this approach to create mitigation portfolios to compensate for their emissions.
Randy Spock also shared that there’s much more to come as his team develops the tools and examples that will streamline the use of this portfolio for everyone.
He added, “And of course, we won’t assume this approach is the only ‘right one’—we want to keep learning from others’ perspectives and will applaud anyone funding any of these pathways, even if their strategy differs from ours.”
Read more: Carbon Direct Outlines Groundbreaking Roadmap For Pairing Superpollutants Mitigation With CDR
