Scientists urge government to invest in carbon removal

The Netherlands should not only focus on CO2 reduction, but also CO2 removal, advises the Climate Science Council (WKR). According to the council, CO2 removal is essential to make the Netherlands fully climate neutral by 2050, so the government should invest in this now. “You have to see CO2 removal as an add-on to all the emission reductions you can do,” says Helene De Koninck, vice-chair of the WKR.

According to De Coninck, it is essential that the Netherlands uses carbon dioxide removal if we are to meet our climate goals. “We will probably exceed the 1.5 degree temperature increase sometime this century, around 2030. The only way to bring the temperature down again is to reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide.

Moreover, even with all the measures being taken now, there will always be some residual CO2 emissions, for example in sectors such as agriculture and aviation. “To compensate for that, to get to zero, you also need to remove CO2.”

Methods

“With CO2 removal, you remove net CO2 from the atmosphere. This ensures that the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere decreases,” explains De Coninck. “There are several ways to achieve this. For example, by planting forests or using agricultural techniques that temporarily store CO2. “But forests can burn or emit CO2 again as a result of heat waves, so it is released again and contributes to climate change.”

According to the WKR vice president, the best way is the “permanent way,” which she believes the Dutch government should focus on primarily. “This could be done, for example, with biomass, and the CO2 emissions from that consumption would then be captured and stored deep underground.” You could also filter the CO2 directly out of the air, which several Dutch companies are already developing technologies for. “And you could also mineralize the CO2, essentially turning it into rock.”

Get an experience

The big advantage of these methods of removing carbon dioxide is that you are permanently removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but there is also a downside. “The disadvantage is that it often costs a lot of energy and, in the case of biomass, a lot of land,” says De Coninck. In fact, many of these technologies are not yet mature. And they are very expensive.

According to De Coninck, there is no doubt that CO2 removal works. “If you put enough energy into it, you can do anything.” But the big question is whether these methods will also prove effective on a large scale. “That’s why we are calling on the Dutch government to implement a policy on this, so that we can gain experience with it and have an idea of ​​whether we can rely on these technologies.”