COP27 continues for a second week in Sharm El-Sheik, with discussions now moving to loss and damage – in which carbon removals can play a critical role. This pivot has been reflected in the number of events, discussions and policy announcements supporting carbon removals in the last week.
In a marked change from prior conference, carbon removals has emerged as a critical discussion point during COP27. Once considered a “nice to have, but not essential”, various events across the conference, hosted by a variety of organisations have underscored that CDR is now essential, required in large volumes, and needed quicker than previously thought.
One of the biggest ongoing contentious issues is who pays for the loss and damage funding, particularly for countries that cannot avoid or adapt to the climate crisis. There has been increasing calls over the past few years for climate reparations to be integrated into the solution in the climate emergency fight. In 2021, Indian Energy Minister, Raj Kumar Singh office called out the Global North and demanded it not only reduced its emissions, but also began to remove the pollution it had caused that had resulted in deadly storms, flooding, and increasing temperatures, predominantly affecting Global South countries. Later that same year, New York Magazine argued that removal could, in theory, pull the most vulnerable parts of the world back from the brink of ecological disaster. This has been reflected in research by Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh which explores the economic implications of imposing carbon takeback obligation on the global fossil fuel industry and shows how it can be an affordable and low risk route to zero emissions.
Chris Neidl, Co-Founder, The OpenAir Collective said: “The addition of ‘repair’ to loss and damage discussions cannot be understated. It marks a huge step forward in the tactics we use to fight the climate emergency; if we are to keep the target of a 1.5-degree global warming alive, it is no longer enough to just reduce emissions. We need to remove existing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at scale, in tandem with the crucial work of reducing emissions and preparing for climate impacts.”
“The addition of ‘repair’ to the arguments for loss and damage marks a step-change in the negotiations, which now recognises the need to include restoration of the climate through tangible actions as well as commitments to reduce overall emissions. Removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is one vital element of repair, which an increasing number of states and organisations are now calling for in order to keep the 1.5-degree target alive.”
He continued: “There have been some incredibly insightful – and dare we say, hopeful – events in the first week of COP27, where innovators have gathered to discuss different philosophies and approaches to carbon removal. It shows that the industry and ecosystem is incredibly diverse, and that is something to celebrate. However we desperately need to scale up these efforts if we are to have any hope of combining commitments made to reduce emissions and minimise the devastating effects of the climate emergency.”
The 17th edition of the Global Carbon Budget found that CO2 emissions reached a record high in 2022; worryingly, if this trend were to continue, the remaining carbon budget would expire within nine years. These findings underscore the need for existing carbon dioxide within the atmosphere to be removed in large quantities.
There have been some major legislative propositions made at COP27 supporting carbon removals:
Over COP27, a number of significant publications relating to CDR have been released;
Carbon removal discussions are plentiful in the second week of COP27, such as:
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With dozens of carbon removal events throughout COP27, pathways for removal working in tandem with mitigation and resiliency was on display for the two weeks of COP27 in Sharm El Sheik.
