This document is based on ecosystem soundings held with over a 100 carbon removals practitioners and climate NGOs in Nairobi, New York, London and various virtual meetings. The soundings aimed to identify worries, misconceptions, sticking points and trade-offs in the narratives around carbon removals, along with enabling narrative pillars that help to clear up confusions, align positive climate action across all sectors and ensure that carbon removals are not hijacked by bad actors but instead play their necessary role in reaching our climate goals.
1. The science is clear – we need carbon removals as well as deep emissions reductions and adaptation to tackle global warming.
- There is no net zero without carbon removals.
- Decarbonization can (and should) get us most of the way to zero – but we need removals for the emissions we’re not able to eliminate.
- Scientists agree that without carbon removal, global warming will exceed 1.5C, causing natural disasters, droughts, famine, and human suffering.
- We need to decarbonize as fast as possible and use removals to have any hope of avoiding climate catastrophe. It’s no longer a choice.
2. Carbon removals are never an excuse for business as usual in fossil fuels, or to delay reducing emissions. They’re an additional measure that enables us to increase climate ambition.
- We cannot tackle climate change if we keep burning fossil fuels, period.
- Even if we ramped removals up to the maximum extent, it would be impossible to produce enough removals to compensate for continued fossil fuel use.
- Removals must be additive to decarbonization efforts, and we need separate targets for reductions and removals that get us to net zero.
3. The window of opportunity is closing – we need to scale carbon removal over this decade so it is available when we need it.
- Removals are like a pension: we need to grow them now so we can “withdraw” later.
- Removals are not a given, it will take all of our efforts to supply the removals needed for net zero.
- We need to get our act together now to develop the necessary incentives, infrastructure and accounting practices.
- Scientists believe we’ll need >5 billion tonnes of removals by 2050. Today, we’re only able to deliver 0.002% of that. We need to get to work now.
4. Carbon removal is done globally, in many different ways and by diverse organisations, in meaningful consultation with the communities most affected by climate change.
- Carbon removals can be done anywhere, by anyone, but have a global impact.
- All carbon removal approaches have their strengths and weaknesses. We need a broad portfolio of options if we want to stay below 1.5C.
- Carbon removal projects can help drive climate-positive growth in the Global South and beyond.
- The only reason to do carbon removals is to raise climate ambition, so we affirm the need for rigorous, transparent principles, regulations and standards.
DETAILED VERSION INCLUDING HEADWINDS / ENABLING NARRATIVES
Here we list the various narrative headwinds that were identified during the ecosystem soundings, alongside responsive enabling framings. We have sorted these under the relevant narrative pillars we derived from our ecosystem discussions. Our aim is to address common worries and misconceptions about carbon removals to ensure the success of the wider climate mission.
1. The science is clear – we need deep emissions reductions, carbon removals and adaptation to tackle global warming.
- There is no net zero without carbon removals.
- Decarbonization can (and should) get us most of the way to zero – but we need removals for the emissions we’re not able to eliminate.
- Scientists agree that without carbon removal, global warming will exceed 1.5C, causing natural disasters, droughts, famine, and human suffering.
- We need to decarbonize as fast as possible and use removals to have any hope of avoiding climate catastrophe. It’s no longer a choice.
2. Carbon removals are never an excuse to keep fossil fuels in play or delay mitigation. They’re an additional measure that enables us to increase climate ambition.
- We cannot tackle climate change if we keep burning fossil fuels, period.
- Even if we ramped removals up to the maximum extent, It would be impossible to produce enough removals to compensate for continued fossil fuel use.
- Removals must be additive to decarbonization efforts, and we need separate targets for reductions and removals that get us to net zero.
3. The window of opportunity is closing – we need to scale carbon removal over this decade so it is available when we need it.
- Removals are like a pension: we need to grow them now so we can “withdraw” later.
- Removals are not a given, it will take all of our efforts to supply the removals needed for net zero.
- We need to get our act together now to develop the necessary incentives, infrastructure and accounting practices.
- Scientists believe we’ll need >5 billion tonnes of removals by 2050. Today, we’re only able to deliver 0.002% of that. We need to get to work now.
4. Carbon removals can be done responsibly, globally, in many different ways and by diverse organisations, in meaningful consultation with the communities most affected by climate change.
- Carbon removals can be done anywhere, by anyone, but have a global impact.
- All carbon removal approaches have their strengths and weaknesses. We need a broad portfolio of options if we want to stay below 1.5C.
- Carbon removal projects can help drive climate-positive growth in the Global South and beyond.
- The only reason to do carbon removals is to raise climate ambition, so we affirm the need for rigorous, transparent principles, regulations and standards
