Net Zero by 2050….at what cost?

THE question in the headline is easy to answer…. a lot! There is much talk in the media about ‘Net Zero’.

Simply put, this is that when CO2 emissions and CO2 removals are equally balanced, we reach the Utopian state of Net Zero.

It’s simple science. The world is warming to dangerous levels primarily because of CO2 emissions. Last year estimates from the United Nations indicated that emissions exceeded 35 billion tonnes. The amount being removed was less than 10% of this total.

Getting to Net Zero is a massive global challenge.

Currently nearly all the world’s CO2 removal occurs through natural processes. That’s primarily trees and plants taking the CO2 from the air and then soil absorbing it.

There are limits to how much mother nature can do.

Even with increasing the amount of planting that has been promised (and when it comes to promises on environmental action they are consistently broken) it still only amounts to 4 billion tonnes of CO2 removal.

THE SOLUTION IS TECHNOLOGY

To reduce and restrict the rise in global temperatures enormous amounts of money have to be invested. Developing new technologies does not come cheaply. Many of these solutions are being developed:

● Carbon capture

● Incorporating CO2 capture into biomass based electricity generation

● Developing specially treated charcoal (Biochar) that locks in carbon

So, there are options. And there’s the rub. Developed nations continue to talk the talk, and not walk the walk.

My own view is that there is a danger here with the talk of expensive solutions. All this does is delay and defer the urgently needed action required to minimise the use of fossil fuels. To date, emissions from fossil fuels have yet to start a downward trend. The facts speak for themselves. When you look at the hard evidence, there can be only one conclusion…. we are failing to remove the threat for future generations.