Assessing global potential and implications of Carbon Dioxide Removal: how much, for how long, and where might it take us?

Abstract:

Aiming to keep cumulative anthropogenic carbon release within the 2 degrees C warming budget, useful energy services and value of fossil carbon might be retained if its extraction is balanced by carbon dioxide capture and carbon storage creation. Here, we examine this proposition: assessing the global resource available for carbon storage, the reliable duration of storage, and exploring the resulting hierarchy of different storage types. The balance between fossil carbon supply, and the sufficiency (size) and capability (technology, security) of candidate carbon stores is assessed. The timescale of carbon retention by the variety of proposed stores has potentially important consequences for future climates. A distinction between ‘permanent’ and ‘temporary’ carbon storage is considered, and the results and implications for the usage of ‘temporary’ stores discussed.