CO2 utilisation could sequester up to 10 gigatonnes a year

Led by UCLA and Oxford University, the research examined 10 separate industrial applications for CO₂, including synthetic fuels and chemicals, concrete, products from microalgae, enhanced weathering, forestry and biochar. It was found that each of the methods could on average capture around 0.5 gigatonnes, while a high-end scenario would see around double that sequestered, with a theoretical cost of under $100 per tonne. Around 37 gigatonnes of CO₂ were emitted globally in 2018 and this figure is rising by around one per cent each year.

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"Greenhouse gas removal is essential to achieve net zero carbon emissions and stabilise the climate," said Cameron Hepburn, director of Oxford's Smith School of Enterprise and Environment and one of the lead authors of the work, published in Nature.

"We haven't reduced our emissions fast enough, so now we also need to start pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Governments and corporations are moving on this, but not quickly enough. The promise of carbon dioxide utilisation is that it could act as an incentive for carbon dioxide removal and could reduce emissions by displacing fossil fuels."