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Biophysical and economic limits to negative CO2 emissions

Abstract

To have a >50% chance of limiting warming below 2 °C, most recent scenarios from integrated assessment models (IAMs) require large-scale deployment of negative emissions technologies (NETs). These are technologies that result in the net removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. We quantify potential global impacts of the different NETs on various factors (such as land, greenhouse gas emissions, water, albedo, nutrients and energy) to determine the biophysical limits to, and economic costs of, their widespread application. Resource implications vary between technologies and need to be satisfactorily addressed if NETs are to have a significant role in achieving climate goals.

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Figure 1: Schematic representation of carbon flows among atmospheric, land, ocean and geological reservoirs.
Figure 2: Scenarios including NETs for each of the scenario categories, corresponding to the ranges and median values shown in Supplementary Table 3.
Figure 3: The different requirements and impacts of NETs.
Figure 4: The impacts and investment requirements of NETs to meet the 2 °C target.

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Acknowledgements

The views expressed herein are those of the authors, and do not represent those of a particular governmental agency or interagency body. This analysis was initiated at a Global Carbon Project meeting on NETs in Laxenburg, Austria, in April 2013 and contributes to the MaGNET program (http://www.cger.nies.go.jp/gcp/magnet.html). G.P.P. was supported by the Norwegian Research Council (236296). C.D.J. was supported by the Joint UK DECC/Defra Met Office Hadley Centre Climate Programme (GA01101). J.G.C. acknowledges support from the Australian Climate Change Science Program. E.Ka. and Y.Y. were supported by the ERTDF (S-10) from the Ministry of the Environment, Japan.

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P.S. led the writing of the paper, with contributions from all authors in the inception of the study and in writing the drafts. P.S. led the analysis with significant contributions from S.J.D., F.C., S.F., J.M., B.G., R.B.J., A.C., E.Kr., D.M. and D.V.V. Figures were conceptualized and produced by S.J.D., J.R., P.C., S.F., P.S., G.P., R.A. and J.M.

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Correspondence to Pete Smith.

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M.O. was given a share in Biorecro, a company that cooperates with BECCS projects globally, honouring his pioneering work on BECCS. The other authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Smith, P., Davis, S., Creutzig, F. et al. Biophysical and economic limits to negative CO2 emissions. Nature Clim Change 6, 42–50 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2870

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