Concerns over approach to addressing climate crisis

PEOPLE think developing technologies to remove carbon dioxide from the air would be too slow to address the urgent climate crisis, a Cardiff University study has found.

The public also have concerns that schemes to take carbon pollution back out of the atmosphere do not tackle the root of the problem and should only take place alongside major efforts to cut emissions, the research suggests.

Methods to take some of the greenhouse gas back out of the atmosphere, to “offset” emissions which are difficult to curb such as from flying or farming, range from planting trees to new engineering approaches.

These include burning wood or plants for energy and capturing and storing the carbon emissions, known as Beccs, technology to capture carbon dioxide directly from the air, or “enhanced rock weathering” in which adding minerals to land can help absorb carbon.

In order to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels and avoid the most dangerous climate change, scientists have warned that carbon emissions need to be cut to zero overall by mid-century.

That might require the use of technology to remove carbon dioxide, according to a study by researchers at the University of Cardiff, which has looked at what people think about such moves.

The research, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, involved a survey of 1,000 people in the UK and a similar number in the US, as well as six focus group workshops.

The surveys found people had a low level of knowledge about measures to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, with just 5.7% of those quizzed in the UK claiming to know a great deal or a fair amount about them.

The Cardiff University experts said that while research into such technologies and schemes “under well-controlled conditions is likely to be acceptable, significant at-scale deployment without a corresponding major effort to deliver emissions reductions would currently appear to represent a red line for many people”.

Lead author Dr Emily Cox said: “Tackling climate change will be really difficult without removing at least some carbon dioxide from the air, but it’s important we get these technologies right by listening to people.

“Our study participants felt that these technologies should only be done alongside a corresponding major effort to reduce CO2 emissions, and I completely agree.

“As one of our participants said: ‘If it’s just something to try to keep us doing what we’ve been doing, it’s a lose-lose’.”