The Paris Agreement has set a goal of limiting global temperature increase to well below 2°C above preindustrial levels, and efforts are underway to limit this increase to 1.5°C. As of 2020, however, global temperatures have already surpassed 1.1°C, increasing at a rate of 0.2°C per decade. At this rate, it appears new approaches are needed to meet climate goals.
Thus far, climate efforts have focused on emissions reduction measures, such as replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy and increasing energy efficiency, as well as temporary forms of carbon storage, such as storing carbon in vegetation and soil. These emissions reduction measures are not comprehensive — developing countries, for example, cannot be simply banned from using fossil fuels — and the current energy system remains reliant on petroleum products.
Researchers from the Univ. of Oxford and the Univ. of Edinburgh show that energy and industrial emissions could be cost-effectively captured and stored through the implementation of a progressive carbon takeback obligation (CTBO) on fossil carbon producers and importers. Critically, this supply-side policy would not only require fossil fuel extractors, producers, and importers to store the CO2 generated by their activities, it would also leave them responsible for the emissions generated by use of their products. The CTBO would progressively increase the fraction of emissions required to be...
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