What are CCS and CDR?
CCS (carbon capture and storage) refers to technologies that can capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) at a source of emissions before it is released into the atmosphere.
These sources include the fossil fuel industry and industrial processes like steel and cement production.
CDR (carbon-dioxide removal) takes the forms of both natural means like afforestation or reforestation and technologies like direct air capture, where machines mimic trees by absorbing CO₂ from their surroundings and storing it underground.
There are also more complex CDR technologies like enhanced rock weathering, where rocks are broken down chemically; the resulting rock particles can remove CO₂ from the atmosphere.
Other technologies like bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) capture and store CO₂ from burning biomass, like wood.
At COP28, the term “unabated fossil fuels” has come to mean the combustion of these fuels without using CCS technologies to capture their emissions.
Draft decision texts point to a need to “phase out” such unabated fossil fuels.
On the other hand, removal technologies have been referenced in the context of the need to scale zero and low-emission technologies and support forest restoration as a means to promote emission removals.
How well does CCS & CDR work
The IPCC AR6 report states CDR ought to be used “to counterbalance hard-to-abate residual emissions.
The reason: “available CDR is to be used strategically to compensate hard to abate residual emissions, not to maintain a high level of fossil fuel use.
For CCS, and other AR6 authors showed in a recent paper that the term “abated fossil fuels” should be used only in the context of highly effective CCS applications.
With a capture rate of 90-95% or more, the captured emissions being stored permanently, and methane emissions leakage from upstream oil and gas production processes being kept under 0.5% (approaching 0.2%).
But in the real world, natural CDR has been tacked on to existing emissions.
For example, the 2023 ‘Land Gap’ report estimated that various governments have proposed to remove CO₂ using around one billion hectares of land.
Some pledges over-rely on land-based CDR to offset fossil fuel emissions.
This raises serious concerns that these countries are shifting their mitigation burden away from reducing fossil fuel use.”
CDR methods like afforestation, reforestation, BECCS, and direct air capture are constrained by their need for land.
Land also invokes equity concerns.
Land in the Global South is often considered to be ‘viable’ and/or ‘cost-effective’ for planting trees and deploying other large-scale CDR methods.
CDR projects can adversely affect land rights of indigenous communities and biodiversity and compete with other forms of land-use, like agriculture that is crucial for ensuring food security.
This is of particular concern vis-à-vis technological CDR at scale.
Chinstrap penguins
It is native to the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions, particularly the South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula.
The population of chinstrap penguins is estimated at about 12 million pairs, making it the most abundant penguin species.
Chinstrap penguins are easily distinguished by their distinctive black head markings.
They have a white face with a narrow black band extending from one side of the head to the other under the chin.
Their upper body is black, while their underbody is white. They have orange beaks and red feet.
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