A UN note elevated nature-based solutions while downplaying the role of carbon dioxide removal using tech. Read more at straitstimes.com.
GENEVA – A few sentences in a note from an obscure United Nations group have ignited a firestorm in the carbon removal world. At issue is a beguilingly simple question: What counts as a carbon offset?
The demarcation might not sound like a big deal, but to the carbon removal industry, it is existential. If the UN declares nature-based solutions the one and true way to remove carbon from the atmosphere, it could effectively ice a growing industry out of the very market it is trying to serve, potentially imperilling the climate in the process.
Direct-air capture – using machines to grab carbon from the sky – is only able to remove a few thousand tonnes of carbon a year and remains expensive and energy-intensive. In essence, the world currently has two choices: pay a little money for nature-based solutions, or pay a premium for more durable removal. The UN is potentially putting its thumb on the scale in favour of the former.
A group of 100 carbon removal industry advocates recently called for the UN to instead adopt the definition of carbon removal set out by one of its own science experts in the IPCC that does not distinguish between nature-based and engineered solutions. Instead, the panel of top climate scientists defines carbon removal broadly as “anthropogenic activities removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and durably storing it in geological, terrestrial, or ocean reservoirs, or in products.
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