A new National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine report could add momentum to negative emissions technologies, which can remove carbon from the air.
The report, released Oct. 24, concluded that a substantial research initiative should begin as soon as possible to learn more about the impacts, limitations and scalability of negative emissions technologies. The report authors said NETs, which remove carbon dioxide directly from ambient air or enhance natural carbon sinks, could be scaled up to capture and store a significant amount of global carbon emissions, but not enough to prevent a global temperature increase of more than 2° C. More research is needed to understand how to overcome existing constraints on the technologies, such as high costs and energy requirements, according to the report.