The Greenhouse Gas Removal initiative, part of The Bezos Earth Fund, and energy system decarbonization organization RMI have published a comprehensive roadmap, outlining steps for rapid scaling of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) by the critical mid-century deadline.
The publication, named “Scaling Technological Greenhouse Gas Removal: A Global Roadmap to 2050,” provides guidelines on accelerating the deployment of CDR technology through 83 specific initiatives with set targets and milestones.
This roadmap comes as a result of a key workshop convened earlier this year by the Earth Fund, along with the U.S. Department of Energy and Stanford University, where more than 500 experts from the CDR sector gathered to provide their opinion on the matter of climate action.
In line with leading carbon tackling recommendations that state that besides limiting emissions, the global community also needs to be retiring 10 gigatons of CO2 each year by 2050 if we want to avoid the worst consequences of climate change, the roadmap provides a plan for immediate action for each of the decades leading up to that deadline.
In this regard, it classifies the period between 2024 and 2030 as a time for technology emergence, followed by a decade of technology adoption between 2030 and 2040. Between 2040 and 2050, this strategy projects a time for technology expansion.
Centered around technology-powered CDR rather than naturally occurring processes, the roadmap also includes the removal of methane and nitrous oxide.
When it comes to technologies, it covers air, ocean, land, and rock CDR, along with non-CO2 greenhouse gas removal.
For these technologies, the roadmap considers various aspects, including science and technology, socio-behavioral and communities, finance and markets, and policy and regulation.
Relevant: Xilva Report Says Early Action Is Vital For Mitigating Investment Risks In Forest CDR
As the authors behind this work point out, the success of a plan of this magnitude will require buy-in, commitments, and execution from different actors from the greenhouse gas removal sector.
Specifically, it would require the involvement of government actors at all levels, funders, greenhouse gas removal communities, industry, researchers, journalists and media, as well as nonprofits and civil society organizations.
Read more: Bipartisan Bill Looks To Incentivize Carbon Removal With New CDR Investment Act For $250/tCO2
