Carbon Capture

The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere in preindustrial times was about 275 parts per million (ppm). Today that number has surpassed 400 ppm—an increase of 45 percent.

For most air pollutants, once the emissions stop, the pollutant will disappear and the impacts will go away. However, this is not the case for CO2, which stays in the atmosphere for centuries.

The interest in CDR is growing. Why is this? Because it is becoming apparent that we are not going to reduce our CO2 emissions fast enough to avoid surpassing the 2°C goal. As a result, if we exceed the carbon budget associated with 2°C warming, CDR technologies could remove CO2 from the atmosphere to bring the carbon budget back into balance.

Worldwide emissions of CO2 are approaching 40 GtCO2 per year. Therefore, to make a real difference in the fight against climate change, NETs must be able to operate on the scale of gigatonnes CO2 per year.