Carbon Dioxide Removal Options: A Literature Review Identifying Carbon Removal Potentials and Costs

Abstract

In 2015, nearly 190 countries came together in the historic Paris agreement to take action in minimizing the impacts of climate change. However, even with the consensus to cut carbon emissions, the continued trajectory of global emissions will push global temperatures 2°C past pre-industrial temperatures. Implementation of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) options is a way to meet the target. Through an extensive literature review, ten CDR/storage options were examined to gain a better understanding of the current state of research regarding the CDR potential of each option and their relevant costs, as well as the feasibility of their implementation. As we have concluded that all options require significant further research, a second major objective was to highlight where major gaps in research exist in order to help guide further inquiry in CDR options. Every option was examined extensively and presented in an individual chapter. Each chapter presents our findings regarding the CDR/storage potential and economic costs collected for each option. In addition, each chapter includes a discussion of the technical or natural process, geographic restrictions, policy implications, benefits and risks associated with the implementation, as well as recommendations for further research. The biggest takeaways from the literature review is that this set of CDR options offer enough removal potential to warrant equal consideration to other emission reduction measures, all options face limitations and uncertainties so a diverse portfolio of options should be pursued, and implementation should occur in a staged manner, in which options are implemented as they become feasible.