In the face of gloomy warnings and figures, Global Thermostat (GT) CEO and co-founder Dr. Graciela Chichilnisky remains steadfastly optimistic about the quest to reduce carbon emissions by capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) cost effectively, from air or existing sources.
“Our plans and technology can transform the industry,” Dr. Chichilnisky told the gasworld CO2 Summit in Austria last month.
But it will require a seismic shift, billions in funding, government backing and the development of a direct air capture (DAC) market virtually from scratch. The need for drastic and swift action was hammered home in a report last October by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which said the planet will reach the crucial threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels by as early as 2030. Global CO2 net emissions need to fall 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, and then be zero around 2050 just to keep global warming around 1.5 degrees C.
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