According to the Carbon Dioxide Removal Primer, humans have put 2.400 gigatons (Gt) of carbon dioxide into Earth's atmosphere since the beginning of the pre-industrial age almost 200 years ago. While ~1320 Gt have been absorbed by natural carbon sinks like the oceans, the other 1180 Gt of carbon dioxide remain in the atmosphere where they continue to fuel global warming. In order to meet the Paris Agreement's prefered target of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C, the 2018 IPCC report insists on the necessity to advance and deploy large scale carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies to remove the surplus of carbon dioxide from our air. This website hopes to offer an overview and comparison of existing CDR projects to individuals who would like to learn about current technologies and contribute to the reduction of carbon dioxide from our atmosphere.
Carbon offset programs
Providers
Direct Air Capture
Direct Air Capture technologies remove carbon dioxide directly from air. Large fans are used to produce a stream of air that is pushed through a series of systems where the carbon-dioxide can bind to a solvent or sorbent. Further chemical processing is then used to extract the CO2 from these proxy materials. Direct Air Capture is able to produce very pure carbon dioxide which can subsequently be compressed, often for geological storage.
Improved Forest Management, Reforestation, Afforestation
This category entails strategies to actively manage tree growth in order to capture CO2. Improved forest management is concerned with techniques to improve the health of existing forests. Reforestation refers to the re-establishment of forests that have recently disappeared, for example due to human interventions like logging. Afforestation means the growth of forests in new areas.
Soil Carbon Sequestration
Soil carbon sequestration groups land management practices that promote the stock of carbon from biomass inputs like litter, residues, roots or manure. Fertile soils are rich in organic matter, which, however, decomposes naturally. Long-term conservation practices thus aim to increase the mean residence time of CO2 in soils.
Emission Avoidance or Reduction
Rather than capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, emission avoidance and reduction measures aim to reduce the amount of CO2 that is released into the atmosphere due to human activities. These techniques often encompass changing human behaviour and upgrading to more efficient technologies and they must be evaluated in a counter factual manner (i.e. asking "How much CO2 would be released when doing X compared to not doing X?").