Technology that sucks carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere will be essential to prevent climate change, a UN report concludes today. But the report, commissioned and endorsed by 195 governments, acknowledges the only ‘negative emissions’ strategy now in deployment is tree planting. Scientists are working on other techniques, such as direct air capture, where fans extract carbon dioxide and store it underground or convert it into jet fuel. Yet the 19 direct air capture plants in operation are capturing only 10,000 tons of CO2 a year, compared with 36billion tons emitted annually. However, campaigners believe that a focus on the negative emissions technology provides a licence to ‘burn now, worry later’.

Source: Daily Mail April 04, 2022 04:37 UTC