Reducing carbon footprint or ways to remove carbon from the atmosphere
In addition to reducing direct greenhouse gas emissions, the global community is beginning to explore and implement various ways to directly remove carbon from the atmosphere.
There are significant differences between these methods, they have their advantages and disadvantages.
To prevent the planet from warming by more than 1.5°, it is necessary to use all methods on a large scale and as quickly as possible.
However, at the moment, all these methods are not sufficiently studied, and their necessary development will be ensured, in particular, by the interest of companies that set themselves goals to reduce the carbon footprint of their activities.
In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, industrial companies can be divided into two types. The first are direct emitters of CO2, such as thermal power plants, metallurgy, cement industry, oil production and processing enterprises. Their emissions are regulated by an emissions quota system. They are physically and financially stimulated to phase out greenhouse gas emissions. And these reductions occur because every year the authorized body in the field of environmental protection reduces the volume of quotas issued by 1.5%, thereby accelerating the abandonment of coal.
The second type is companies which do not generate CO2 emissions in the process of their activity, but they indirectly contribute to CO2 emissions through the consumption of electric and thermal energy, gas, gasoline, etc.
To date, these companies are not required to reduce their carbon footprint.
European companies set ambitious goals to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, the Republic of Kazakhstan has set goals to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.
And it is the goals of these companies to reduce their carbon footprint that will contribute to the development of various ways to remove carbon from the atmosphere in the coming years.
More than 95% of offset projects completed before 2024 are projects aimed at preventing further emissions: protecting forests from deforestation, or using more efficient technologies to produce electric and thermal energy, such as fuel replacement.
Offset projects that directly capture carbon from the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide removal, are now increasingly being developed.
In this case, the natural principles of photosynthesis or mineralization are used, or some modern technologies are used.
There are five main ways to remove carbon from the atmosphere:
– Reforestation
It is well-known that trees store carbon well, removed from the atmosphere as a result of photosynthesis. Forest expansion and restoration is an incentive to increase carbon uptake through photosynthesis to convert atmospheric carbon dioxide into carbon stored in wood and soil.
At the same time, forests promote water and air purification, support small water cycles, cool the climate and help maintain biodiversity.
– Carbon from soil
Soil naturally stores carbon in organic matter. The soil contains three times as much carbon as the atmosphere. Agriculture has historically emitted more carbon into the atmosphere, so soils for agriculture today in many places lose fertility, are unable to hold enough water, and are not resistant to wind and water erosion. Since the land allocated for agriculture is vast, even a small increase in the amount of carbon in the soil can have a great impact.
Regenerative agriculture increases soil carbon content since planting cover crops in empty fields can prolong photosynthesis throughout the year if mechanical and chemical effects on soils are reduced. A radical change in farming practices is needed to achieve a sustainable effect, which must also be permanent, as an annual ploughing might undo the gains of previous year.
– Use of biomass
Production of Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage is another way to use photosynthesis to fight climate change.
Bioenergy production is the process of using biomass for industrial energy production, capturing before being released into the atmosphere, and then storing the captured carbon either underground or in long-life products such as concrete.
In general, the bioenergy production process is carbon negative and uses mainly agricultural residues or wood waste as fuel. These types of raw materials can become key factor because they do not require special land use.
Another option for using biomass to absorb carbon is to convert the biomass by pyrolysis into biosaccharides or carbon dioxide oils, which can be stored underground permanently.
– Direct carbon capture from air
Direct air capture is the process of chemically purifying carbon dioxide directly from the air and then storing it underground. This new technology is similar to carbon capture and storage technology used to capture emissions from sources such as power plants and industrial plants. The difference is that direct atmospheric capture removes excess carbon directly from the atmosphere, rather than being captured at the source.
However, this technology is expensive and energy intensive. Therefore, the implementation of existing projects is not high, since sufficient energy without emissions is required to achieve clean carbon removal, and large areas are required for the construction of permanent storage facilities.
– Carbon mineralization
Some minerals, such as olivine, react naturally with CO2 to convert carbon from gas to solid. This process is commonly referred to as carbon mineralization or enhanced weathering, and naturally occurs very slowly, over hundreds or thousands of years.
The goal of this project is to accelerate the natural chemical weathering of the mineral by distributing a large amount of soil containing, for example, olivine over a large area. The main advantage is the permanent storage of carbon. The limitation is finding a suitable and sufficient source of mineral, the necessary area for dispersal and extraction, and transporting large amounts of low-emission rock.
The use of these innovative technologies for carbon sequestration and storage by industry and agriculture will allow CO2 to be extracted from the atmosphere and stored safely for hundreds or thousands of years, thereby bringing it closer to the main goal – reducing the carbon footprint of their activities.