Imperative Of Carbon Removal

Context: The policy to combat with threatening Climate Change must be focus on to scrub the atmosphere free of excessive carbon dioxide (CO2).

Climate Change becoming a threatening issue

• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): As per 6^th Assessment Report of IPCC, the world is experiencing 1.09°C hotter than the average for 1850-1900.
  • Changes in climate system, due to increasing GHG emission, becoming larger.
  • Extreme weather events become more frequent, floods and droughts gain in intensity and push up the demand for energy.
• Policy limitations: Paris Agreement aims to restrict temperature rises to below 2°C, preferably below 1.5°C.
  • Rather than focusing only on reducing emissions and emission intensity, the aim must be focus on to free the atmosphere from excessive CO2.

Way Forward: At Climate Summit in November (COP26), India should get focus to suck CO2 out of atmosphere

• The only way to keep the rise in warming below 1.5° C is to deplete the existing stock of carbon in the atmosphere, and not merely cut back on further additions to it.
• Emission reduction is a common responsibility, but carbon removal can and should be preponderantly the responsibility of the nations that polluted the atmosphere. This would be costly, to begin with.
• Invest in new technologies: There is a need to develop technology that would convert the CO2 into carbon fibre.
• The point is to create the chemistry that would make CO2 the starting material for the industry, rather than petroleum.
• Research is progressing around the world to this end. India must be a lead player here, too.