This article illustrates how much carbon dioxide would need to be removed from the atmosphere with carbon capture technology in order for it to be a viable, stand-alone solution. The article explains that, for this to be the only solution, we would need to create even more renewable energy sources than are necessary to replace fossil fuels. The article clearly demonstrates the need for nature-based solutions and the need to eliminate fossil fuels. Understanding how long carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere, especially compared to other greenhouse gases, may help students understand this topic. The video The Problem with Geoengineering (ft. @ClimateAdam) details the nuances of solutions like direct air capture and bioengineering with carbon capture and storage to give a more complete picture of the issues. Students may also want to check out Project Drawdown’s Table of Solutions for more effective nature-based solutions.
Written By: MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative
The MIT Climate Change Engagement Program, a part of MIT Climate HQ, provides the public with nonpartisan, easy-to-understand, and scientifically-grounded information on climate change and its solutions.
Emerging technologies like direct air capture, which pulls carbon dioxide (CO2) straight from the atmosphere, can remove some of the climate-warming greenhouse gases humanity puts into the air. They offer the tantalizing possibility that humans could halt climate change without major changes to our way of life: we simply pull all the greenhouse gases we put into the atmosphere back out.
But this is a nearly impossible task, says Charles Harvey, an MIT professor of civil and environmental engineering who has studied both natural and technological ways to take CO2 out of the atmosphere. Removing CO2 is one of the hardest and most expensive ways we could address climate change—far more difficult than simply emitting less carbon in the first place.
Humanity produces a staggering amount of CO2: more than 35 billion tons of it each year.1 The Earth soaks up roughly half of that, Harvey says, when it moves carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the ocean, plants, soils, and other natural “carbon sinks.” To fully cancel out our carbon emissions, humanity would have to capture and store the other half, or nearly 20 billion tons each year.
