A draft document to define a new global carbon market released last month by the United Nations elevated nature-based solutions like planting trees while downplaying the role of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) via machines or other forms of technology.
Both natural and technological approaches are effective ways to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of global warming. The demarcation might not seem significant to some, but to the carbon removal industry, it’s existential.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an UN-backed group, has warned that the world will almost certainly need to remove billions of tons of carbon a year from the atmosphere by mid-century to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The market for carbon offsets is currently valued at approximately $2 billion. By mid-century, BloombergNEF projects it could grow to anywhere from $160 billion to $624 billion annually. In another analysis, BloombergNEF found that relying on carbon removal alone could cause the market to hit nearly $1 trillion by 2037.
