Land conversions not climate effects are the dominant indirect consequence of sun-driven CO2 capture, conversion, and sequestration
Removing carbon dioxide (CO _2 ) from the atmosphere is required for mitigating climate change. Large-scale direct air capture combined with injecting CO _2 into geological formations could retain carbon long-term, but demands a substantial amount of energy, pipeline infrastructure, and suitable sit...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ada971 |
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| author | Moritz Adam Thomas Kleinen Matthias M May Kira Rehfeld |
| author_facet | Moritz Adam Thomas Kleinen Matthias M May Kira Rehfeld |
| author_sort | Moritz Adam |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Removing carbon dioxide (CO _2 ) from the atmosphere is required for mitigating climate change. Large-scale direct air capture combined with injecting CO _2 into geological formations could retain carbon long-term, but demands a substantial amount of energy, pipeline infrastructure, and suitable sites for gaseous storage. Here, we study Earth system impacts of modular, s un-powered process chains, which combine d irect a ir c apture with (electro)chemical c onversion of the captured CO _2 into liquid or solid sink products and subsequent product s torage (sDACCCS). Drawing on a novel explicit representation of CO _2 removal in a state-of-the-art Earth system model, we find that these process chains can be renewably powered and have minimal implications for the climate and carbon cycle. However, to stabilize the planetary temperature two degrees above pre-industrial levels, CO _2 capturing, conversion, and associated energy harvest demand up to 0.46% of the global land area in a high-efficiency scenario. This global land footprint increases to 2.82% when assuming present-day technology and pushing to the bounds of removal. Mitigating historical emission burdens within individual countries in this high-removal scenario requires converting an area equivalent to 40% of the European Union’s agricultural land. Scenarios assuming successful technological development could halve this environmental burden, but it is uncertain to what degree they could materialize. Therefore, ambitious decarbonization is vital to reduce the risk of land use conflicts if efficiencies remain lower than expected. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-27cdca5c66c1458e989e531ee56c051b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-27cdca5c66c1458e989e531ee56c051b2025-02-11T14:09:35ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262025-01-0120303401110.1088/1748-9326/ada971Land conversions not climate effects are the dominant indirect consequence of sun-driven CO2 capture, conversion, and sequestrationMoritz Adam0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8794-958XThomas Kleinen1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9550-5164Matthias M May2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1252-806XKira Rehfeld3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9442-5362Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen , Tübingen, GermanyMax Planck Institute for Meteorology , Hamburg, GermanyInstitute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, University of Tübingen , Tübingen, GermanyDepartment of Geosciences, University of Tübingen , Tübingen, Germany; Department of Physics, University of Tübingen , Tübingen, GermanyRemoving carbon dioxide (CO _2 ) from the atmosphere is required for mitigating climate change. Large-scale direct air capture combined with injecting CO _2 into geological formations could retain carbon long-term, but demands a substantial amount of energy, pipeline infrastructure, and suitable sites for gaseous storage. Here, we study Earth system impacts of modular, s un-powered process chains, which combine d irect a ir c apture with (electro)chemical c onversion of the captured CO _2 into liquid or solid sink products and subsequent product s torage (sDACCCS). Drawing on a novel explicit representation of CO _2 removal in a state-of-the-art Earth system model, we find that these process chains can be renewably powered and have minimal implications for the climate and carbon cycle. However, to stabilize the planetary temperature two degrees above pre-industrial levels, CO _2 capturing, conversion, and associated energy harvest demand up to 0.46% of the global land area in a high-efficiency scenario. This global land footprint increases to 2.82% when assuming present-day technology and pushing to the bounds of removal. Mitigating historical emission burdens within individual countries in this high-removal scenario requires converting an area equivalent to 40% of the European Union’s agricultural land. Scenarios assuming successful technological development could halve this environmental burden, but it is uncertain to what degree they could materialize. Therefore, ambitious decarbonization is vital to reduce the risk of land use conflicts if efficiencies remain lower than expected.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ada971carbon dioxide removalearth system modelingCO2 conversionphotoelectrochemistryland surface modelCDR |
| spellingShingle | Moritz Adam Thomas Kleinen Matthias M May Kira Rehfeld Land conversions not climate effects are the dominant indirect consequence of sun-driven CO2 capture, conversion, and sequestration Environmental Research Letters carbon dioxide removal earth system modeling CO2 conversion photoelectrochemistry land surface model CDR |
| title | Land conversions not climate effects are the dominant indirect consequence of sun-driven CO2 capture, conversion, and sequestration |
| title_full | Land conversions not climate effects are the dominant indirect consequence of sun-driven CO2 capture, conversion, and sequestration |
| title_fullStr | Land conversions not climate effects are the dominant indirect consequence of sun-driven CO2 capture, conversion, and sequestration |
| title_full_unstemmed | Land conversions not climate effects are the dominant indirect consequence of sun-driven CO2 capture, conversion, and sequestration |
| title_short | Land conversions not climate effects are the dominant indirect consequence of sun-driven CO2 capture, conversion, and sequestration |
| title_sort | land conversions not climate effects are the dominant indirect consequence of sun driven co2 capture conversion and sequestration |
| topic | carbon dioxide removal earth system modeling CO2 conversion photoelectrochemistry land surface model CDR |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ada971 |
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