New Greenhouse Gas Removal Pathways

The Centre for Climate Repair at the University of Cambridge (CCRC) and the Climate Emergency Forum (CEF) present a panel discussion at COP28 in Dubai, UAE on the topic of “New Greenhouse Gas Removal Pathways.”
This video was recorded on December 8th, 2023 at COP28 in Dubai, UAE, and published on January 7th, 2024, and represents the opinions of the discussion participants.
This presentation includes the following content:
- Panelists Dr. Shaun D. Fitzgerald, Dr. Chelsey Baker, Paul Holthus, Dr. Amy Ruddock, & Soyoung Oh are introduced by program host Charles Gregoire.
- The challenge of keeping global temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius, as outlined by IPCC AR6, is emphasized, pointing out that no scenario in the report currently keeps temperatures below 1.5 degrees, thus necessitating urgent action.
- A spectrum of greenhouse gas removal pathways is introduced, ranging from nature-based solutions to engineering approaches.
- Ocean-based climate mitigation solutions, due to the ocean's role as a significant carbon sink, are repeatedly emphasized with open questions, which include efficiency, repeatability, feasibility, & the need for monitoring, reporting, and verification.
- The ocean's potential as a gigaton-scale nature-based solution for carbon sequestration is highlighted.
- The importance of the next decade is stressed for proving or disproving ocean-based carbon dioxide removal technologies.
- The need for a global-scale collaborative effort involving businesses, entrepreneurs, & governments is emphasized.
- Carbon Engineering's Direct Air Capture using large fans to draw carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is described.
- Opportunities & challenges in Biomass for Energy with CCS (BECCS) and Direct Air Capture & Storage (DACS) are presented.
- The importance of incorporating compliance levels into industry standards is highlighted for the successful implementation of greenhouse gas removal plans.
Links:
- Centre for Climate Repair - University of Cambridge
www.climaterepair.cam.ac.uk/
- National Oceanography Centre
noc.ac.uk/
- World Ocean Council
www.oceancouncil.org/
- Carbon Engineering
carbonengineering.com/
- Emissions Gap Report
www.unep.org/resources/emissi...
- The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal Report
www.stateofcdr.org/
- Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage
www.iea.org/energy-system/car...
- The Paris Agreement (wikipedia)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_A...
- Blue Carbon (wikipedia)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_ca...
Guest Panelists:
Dr. Shaun Fitzgerald - Executive Director of the Centre for Climate Repair at Cambridge (CCRC). Shaun is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering who works at the interface of academic research, business, government policy & public engagement.
Dr. Chelsey Baker - is an Ocean Biogeochemical Data and Model Analyst at National Oceanography Centre in the UK. Her research focuses on the biological carbon pump & the controls on particle flux & subsequent carbon storage in the ocean.
Dr. Amy Ruddock - is VP Europe at Carbon Engineering, Prior to Carbon Engineering, Amy was VP Corporate Development and Sustainability at Virgin Atlantic where she was accountable for setting & delivering carbon strategy, securing expansion at London's Heathrow Airport, corporate strategy & government affairs.
Paul Holthus - is founding President & Chief Executive Officer of the World Ocean Council. He works with the private sector and market forces to develop practical solutions for achieving sustainable development & addressing environmental concerns, especially for marine areas & resources.
Soyoung Oh - is a PhD student at the Fletcher School, Tufts University, and a research analyst at Perspectives Climate Group in Germany with a focus on climate policy. Her current work includes the political economy of CCS, BECCS and DACCS & the decarbonization of industrial hubs.
Program Host & Video Production:
Charles Gregoire - Climate Reality Leader, Electrical Engineer, Webmaster & IT prime for Facing Future & the Climate Emergency Forum.
Video Production:
Heidi Brault - Video production & web assistant, Organizer & convener, Metadata tech, COP28 team lead for the Climate Emergency Forum & Facing Future; BA (Psych.).
Our Website:
climateemergencyforum.org/
Acknowledgement:
We'd like to acknowledge these two organizations without which our attendance at COP28 would not have been possible.
- Sustainable Population Australia (SPA)
- The International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE)
Attributions:
Background Music:
- Title: Through the City II
- Author: Crowander
- Source: Free Music Archive
- License: CC BY-NC 4.0
Image and Video: climateemergencyforum.org/ass...
#COP28 #carbonemissions

[@paulusbrent9987]

I can no longer take seriously those who talk about a 1.5 °C target is still feasible. It is now obvious that it is only a matter of time until we get to a 3 °C scenario.

[@nottenvironmental6208]

2023 was over 1 5 from 1850baseline. The fossil fuel industry repeated 1.5 is possible, why just let them move to 2°c?

[@voidisyinyangvoidisyinyang885]

James E. Hansen just published how we already are at 1.5 C global average. It's not gonna go down either. It's on his website. Or you can get his free emails.

[@richdiana3663]

If you start at 1750 when GHGs and temperatures started rising, we're past 2C and heading to 3C which leads to Extinction.

[@rickdubov7322]

Right on, Paul!

[@koicaine1230]

I wish people would have taken this seriously back in the 70's and 80's, it might have been enough to make a difference. I'm doing the best I can to create a microclimate and Regenerative Food Forest on our property that will hopefully offer us at least some protection from the worst of it but it won't work forever.

[@martiansoon9092]

One gigaton per year... Yea, human activity pushes around 60 gigatons per year to the air as overall impact... Just stop emissions now and we have a patch over it. Continueing any fossil burning is insanity. Let's do ALL of these and ruin our oceans in the same time. And still we are too low to even take one tenth of our current emissions... And who is going to pay these? And the part that is hardly taken in these calculations: TIPPING POINTS. We are crossing some of them already. And many more when we reach over 2C. These tipping points are not coming back when we go just a bit lower temperatures. When 1km of glaciers height is gone, you'll need at least 6C lower temperature to start growing it back. That's from altitude change alone. Same goes for many other tipping elements.

[@simpledragon]

The problem with spending time and money towards co2 removal is: that it is being used as an excuse for not changing as they are starting projects ( co2 removal ) that will help meet reduction requirements rather than allowing wind power ( Alberta, Canada.) I believe we should be working on the causes of global warming first and keep all technologies going. It all comes down to current entities keeping profits; when power generation (for profit) given to all, would be the commitment needed to cause true change. Imagine the social impacts of the profits from power generation being used for the people; rather than entities using them for economic and political control.

[@russtaylor2122]

The scale you speak of is nowhere near what is required if we just carry on imagining that the 'problems' have been dealt with. Consider Jevons Paradox and increasing human population with first world standards as a desire and you see the futility here. By all means do it, but you must know you're at stage three of the five stages of grief: Bargaining.

[@TheDoomWizard]

You aren't taking sports cars away from Americans. You aren't telling people not to eat a cheeseburger. You aren't educating people how to reduce emissions. You aren't reducing inequality. You aren't removing greenhouse gasses at anywhere near the scale and pace required. Just stop. Let ppl know how to enjoy the remaining time we have.

[@saskwatch123]

I was out in public yesterday and am always amazed just how ignorant or unconcerned the general public is with respect to the problems our children will face. 40 yr. old boys talking about their trucks, holiday flights, etc. You would think they would have learned something from all the information available. The reality is most of humanity is nothing more than monkeys with cell phones and cars.

[@3g0st]

Yup. It's infantalizing to assume a portion of people wouldn't change their minds given proper education. I suppose the elites are aware of that. Sad!

[@EmeraldView]

These sites are silly. Go on to ANY mainstream news or information outlet that talks about the dire situation of climate change and see ALL the MAGAts (remember up to half of all Americans) just to see the latest state of denialism. They are dug in deeper and more staunchly than ever. And half the non-MAGAts simply won't look up (or can't since they are preoccupied with survival).

[@johnziggykelleher4871]

Dreaming . Does the IPCC even count the emissions from all transportation?

[@FrankWhite437]

And it's gonna be all rainbow sand unicorns 😂

[@EmeraldView]

Be faire. They only promised us rainbows.

[@danshillabeer9523]

Questions around DACCS - how will you justify the significant energy overhead of DACCS? How will you then transport it over distance? Where will you store such vast amounts of gas safely? How will you build the pipelines, and at what financial and carbon costs? Even if you are talking about industrial and power generation 'tailpipe' emissions, then the costs will be huge. If you are really suggesting open-air DACCS... well that's just silly. Questions around BECCS - BECCS is presented as a zero-sum carbon option. It conveniently ignores the reality of the sheer scale of growth needed to scale this, the 20-year lag while regrowth becomes CO2 negative, and the hugely carbon-intensive logistics of processing and moving timber (not just any old growth, hence significant waste). How will you start and scale BECCS without deforestation? Both of these 'technologies' are great until they get out of the lab, when they hit the engineering and economic realities. The answer really is 'just stop oil'. We really don't need to burn anything. We have a star doing that quite nicely already, providing more solar and wind energy than we will ever need. Now who might be in favour of 'solutions' that allow continued oil and gas extraction?

[@kierank01]

Surely the oceans are already under enough pressure as it is?

[@voidisyinyangvoidisyinyang885]

James E. Hansen just announced we are officially already at 1.5 C global average increase!

[@TennesseeJed]

DAC is a terrible complexity and energy waster designed to play market games.

[@blinkingmanchannel]

How can I engage more directly with your organization?

[@EmeraldView]

Yeah... Good luck with that. Why do all these people look like they are trying to give a hopeful outlook while knowing there isn't one?

[@LivingNow678]

Because panic is a bad beast !!!

[@noahbody9782]

What year do you think climate change will cause a reduction in the per capita world food production?

[@petrlonsky2332]

I agree. We have not much time to do anything. Stop make studies, of what is better, and do everything possible to stop emmiting GHG, remove as much carbon dioxide as possible, and try also to change albedo. Stop talking, act now!

[@basilbrushbooshieboosh5302]

Move forward with Ocean Fertilisation with rapidity. It is the cheapest, most effective and scale-able. It can also have the least impact in scale if implemented beyond the continental shelf in the zones of the Tropics. These areas, for the the most part, avoid large fisheries and crucial traditional indigenous fishing grounds due to historical rates of low productivity - thus being ideal for primarily Iron Fertilisation. This method is highly scale-able, easily implemented, and extremely comparably cheap to operate at very large scale. Michael Barrett Secondary EES, Physics, Science Teacher Sydney, Australia.

[@realeyesrealizereallies6828]

The infrastructure needed, money needed, and scale needed for CO2 removal is mind boggling and highly unlikely in any meaningful way..Even through nature based solutions that are in a battle with feedback loops and human behavior..We are adding CO2 ten times faster than during "The Great Dying" which was the very worse mass extinction event in Earth's history..Many claim that we have just entered the Earth's 6th mass extinction event..But, I would argue that we have been in the 6th mass extinction event for several thousand years..And if anyone were to dig up our civilization in a 100 thousand years, they will probably agree with me..

[@voidisyinyangvoidisyinyang885]

2023 published science says microalgae can store 100 gigatons of CO2 per year!! We just need funding ASAP. Oops. Exxon just pulled their microalgae funding since no "profit" hahahaha

[@EmeraldView]

@@voidisyinyangvoidisyinyang885 All Americans care about is whether microLED technology is as good as or better than OLEDs.

[@AnthemUnanthemed]

Ill probably actually watch this tomorrow but if the description is anything to go off of and you start making carbon pollutants for the ocean to deal with instead of us, not only are you missing the point, but you are doing further short sighted damage that is going to result in catastrophe, biomass for energy will also be polluting and missing the point, we need green power, not investments into more dirty power that causes more problems, and the only way carbon capture will work is if we first stop making any more carbon, otherwise we spend more carbon energy to collect the carbon.

[@RajendraTayya-rh9mk]

Contending with the fossil fuel companies is not like thinking out of box to safeguard the planet’s ecology.

[@scottdavis3571]

The fossil fuel companies created the problem. We should make them pay for carbon pumps and storage, and anything else we develop to trap and dispose of GHG's.

[@user-ym5hx6ky2m]

Rearranging deck chairs till the very end.

[@bLATTATTAT562]

These are laws way beyond ur understanding human. U was created by who is changing climate. No way u can win. But u can make ur next settlement unpleasant

[@carinwiseman4309]

This makes NO sense in English, try again.

[@obsoleteoptics]

​@@carinwiseman4309it makes perfect sense if you think about it.

[@criskalogiros8181]

People in the future will look back at us and they will be laughing! If we manage to survive somehow. What we fail to recognize is: that climate change is the ticket to create at last something that we have never been able to accomplish. Now is the time! Now we have the technology to organize a new socio-economic system on a global scale, that is fair and just for all. Do we really believe that we are able to continue with the current economic model, growing production and consumption for ever? This is really stupid! And to whose expense, others people misfortune and suffering? Earth belongs to all living beings, no one has claim over nature, all have claim over nature. Let us be realists. How many paths are there towards success and thrive? Either we accept equality and justice for all or perish. What ever happens, we deserve.

[@dreadfuldonkey]

perfect let’s put a carbon plant out in the middle of the desert where there is no smog

[@vthilton]

Save Our Planet Now

[@scottdavis3571]

Save our Planet yesterday too!

[@EmeraldView]

@@scottdavis3571 Rapidly researching and developing time machine technology is our only hope at this point.

[@criskalogiros8181]

The planet will be here for billions of years, been in worst situations. The planet will be fine, the people are f*cked!

[@motherofnewts3696]

This all comes across as reductionist , techno-think. Ecosystems barely got a mention. Nothing said about aligning our selves with the living planet and its needs. Anthropocentric hubris especially the 1.5 alive guy. Sigh.

[@ollie2052000]

1.5 IS DEAD, like we’ll be.

[@Glenn_Ratcliffe]

Keepin 1.5 is very easy 2obtain. ... change the F'n goal posts again 😡

[@StopSmokingForever]

At 6 min I'm already done. Keeping 1.5C alive? LOLOLOLOLOL This fellow destroyed his credibility and the credibility of this panel in just under 6 min. We're going to pass +1.5C in 2024, we'll hit +2.0C in the 2030s and keep going from there. Jim Hansen says that 95% certainty we're targeting +3.0C now and it could get much worse.

[@ddoperations2768]

It’s too late. The greed of humanity won’t stop. Prepare.