Net Zero Delusion

James Dyke, Robert Watson, and Wolfgang Knorr argue that the idea of combining emissions reductions with carbon removal technologies is dangerously misguided.

We have arrived at the painful realisation that the idea of net zero has licensed a recklessly cavalier “burn now, pay later” approach which has seen carbon emissions continue to soar.

By including carbon sinks in climate-economic models, a Pandora’s box had been opened. ... [T]he mere prospect of carbon capture and storage gave policy makers a way out of making the much needed cuts to greenhouse gas emissions.

Instead of confronting our doubts, we scientists decided to construct ever more elaborate fantasy worlds in which we would be safe. The price to pay for our cowardice: having to keep our mouths shut about the ever growing absurdity of the required planetary-scale carbon dioxide removal.

It should now be getting clear where the journey is heading. As the mirage of each magical technical solution disappears, another equally unworkable alternative [such as geoengineering] pops up to take its place.

[T]here will be some small role for a number of different carbon dioxide removal approaches. The problems come when it is assumed that these can be deployed at vast scale. This effectively serves as a blank cheque for the continued burning of fossil fuels and the acceleration of habitat destruction.

The only way to keep humanity safe is the immediate and sustained radical cuts to greenhouse gas emissions in a socially just way. ... That is the very simple acid test that must be applied to all climate policies. The time for wishful thinking is over.