Material that absorbs carbon dioxide

CO₂ capture and storage (CCS) has the potential to develop into an important tool to address climate change. Given society’s present reliance on fossil fuels, widespread adoption of CCS appears indispensable (不可或缺的) for meeting stringent (嚴格的) climate targets. We argue that for conventional CCS to become a successful climate mitigation (緩和) technology—which by necessity has to operate on a large scale—it may need to be complemented (補充) with air capture, removing CO₂ directly from the atmosphere. Air capture of CO₂ could act as insurance against CO₂ leaking from storage and furthermore may provide an option for dealing with emissions from mobile dispersed (被驅散的) sources such as automobiles and airplanes.

Air capture research is still in its infancy and the practicality of large-scale deployment (部署) needs to be further explored. The inability to produce accurate cost estimates for a nascent (初期的) technology, however, should not be considered a reason for withholding support. Indeed, air capture is clearly feasible, and there are several lines of argument that suggest that its cost could well come down to a level that would make air capture economically interesting. Air capture would provide a different approach to reducing CO₂ concentrations in the atmosphere. There is abundant research and development (R&D) to be undertaken with regard to the various possible materials, components, and workings of air capture technology. Given the enormity of the global climate challenge, we think this R&D needs to be scaled up urgently.

Lackner, K.S. (2012). The urgency of the development of CO₂ capture from ambient air. National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,109 (33), 13156-13162. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1108765109