I’ve been tracking three significant CO2 news items over the past few days. Here’s what they reveal: (Thanks to Carbon brief for the summary)
CO2 RECORD: Carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere reached the highest level ever recorded last year, according to a new report by the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO). It implies more extreme weather
https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-greenhouse-gases-wmo-un-708c3d35ce6fc3d3bcaccafdba6bba45
DECLINING SINKS: The Guardian said WMO scientists are also “concerned” that the natural land and ocean “sinks” that remove CO2 from the air are “weakening as a result of global heating”.
Separate new research concluded that Australia’s tropical rainforests are among the first in the world to start emitting more CO2 than they absorb, with the decay of dead trees emitting more than the growing trunks and branches can store.
https://www.barrons.com/news/australian-rainforests-no-longer-a-carbon-sink-study-76328900
INCREASED EMISSIONS: Wildfires burned an area of land larger than India during the 2024-25 “global fire season”, emitting more than 8bn tonnes of CO2, almost 10% above average. four of the most prominent extreme wildfire events were found to have been more likely to occur as a result of human-caused climate change.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/global-wildfires-burned-an-area-of-land-larger-than-india-in-2024/
The climate crisis has forced us to re-evaluate many of the actions we undertake in the energy sector. The energy transition itself is focused on several key levers, which I highlight below:
1.- Energy Efficiency and Demand Reduction:
- This is often called “the first fuel.” It means implementing technologies and changing behaviours to reduce the total energy consumed across all sectors (industry, transport, residential).
2.- Decarbonization of Power Generation (Renewables):
- Scaling up the installation of renewable energy sources (solar, wind, hydro, etc.) to completely replace power plants that rely on fossil fuels.
3.- Fuel Switching and Electrification:
- Transitioning from direct hydrocarbon combustion to low- or zero-emission energy carriers (such as green hydrogen or synthetic fuels) and fully electrifying transportation and heating systems.
4.- Carbon Capture and Storage at Source (CCS/CCU):
- Implementing Capture and Storage/Utilization (CCS and CCU) systems at industrial sites or power plants where residual fossil fuel burning is technically unavoidable in the near term.
We know that Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) are the primary drivers of global warming. Of these, Methane (CH4) has a very negative effect, but its atmospheric residence time is relatively short, approximately 40 years. Conversely, CO2 is the most damaging, first because it is the GHG we emit the most, and most critically, its atmospheric persistence spans several centuries.
Global metrics indicate that we annually emit 40 Gt of CO2 into the atmosphere. The Earth is capable of naturally sequestering 22 Gt, resulting in a net annual addition of 18 Gt of CO2 remaining in the atmosphere. The immediate consequence is an increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration and the resulting global warming.
(Reference: CO2 and Greenhouse Gas Emissions – University of Oxford and Oxford Martin School)
https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-greenhouse-gas-emissions
It has been documented that even by implementing post-combustion CO2 capture systems (CCS and CCU) at all hydrocarbon-burning facilities, transitioning all internal combustion engine vehicles to electric, and maximizing tree planting, we would still have an excess of CO2 in the atmosphere.
This realization has led society to conclude that an 5th additional step is necessary:
5.- Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) from the Atmosphere:
- Deploying technologies designed to capture CO2 directly from the ambient air to actively remove the legacy gases already built up in the atmosphere.
We will further detail this novel area, which is already attracting significant public and private investment, in subsequent publications