In 2015, nearly 190 countries came together in the historic Paris agreement to take
action in minimizing the impacts of climate change. However, even with the consensus
to cut carbon emissions, the continued trajectory of global emissions will push global
temperatures 2°C past pre-industrial temperatures. Implementation of carbon dioxide
removal (CDR) options is a way to meet the target.
Through an extensive literature review, ten CDR/storage options were examined to gain
a better understanding of the current state of research regarding the CDR potential of
each option and their relevant costs, as well as the feasibility of their implementation.
As we have concluded that all options require significant further research, a second
major objective was to highlight where major gaps in research exist in order to help
guide further inquiry in CDR options.
Every option was examined extensively and presented in an individual chapter. Each
chapter presents our findings regarding the CDR/storage potential and economic costs
collected for each option. In addition, each chapter includes a discussion of the technical
or natural process, geographic restrictions, policy implications, benefits and risks
associated with the implementation, as well as recommendations for further research.
The biggest takeaways from the literature review is that this set of CDR options offer
enough removal potential to warrant equal consideration to other emission reduction
measures, all options face limitations and uncertainties so a diverse portfolio of options
should be pursued, and implementation should occur in a staged manner, in which
options are implemented as they become feasible.