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Photo of Terese Thoni

Terese Thoni

Programme coordinator

Photo of Terese Thoni

A Comprehensive Assessment of Carbon Dioxide Removal Options for Germany

Author

  • Malgorzata Borchers
  • Johannes Förster
  • Daniela Thrän
  • Silke Beck
  • Terese Thoni
  • Klaas Korte
  • Erik Gawel
  • Till Markus
  • Romina Schaller
  • Imke Rhoden
  • Yaxuan Chi
  • Nicolaus Dahmen
  • Roland Dittmeyer
  • Tobias Dolch
  • Christian Dold
  • Michael Herbst
  • Dominik Heß
  • Aram Kalhori
  • Ketil Koop-Jakobsen
  • Zhan Li
  • Andreas Oschlies
  • Thorsten B.H. Reusch
  • Torsten Sachs
  • Cornelia Schmidt-Hattenberger
  • Angela Stevenson
  • Jiajun Wu
  • Christopher Yeates
  • Nadine Mengis
Show all

Summary, in English

To reach their net-zero targets, countries will have to compensate hard-to-abate CO2 emissions through carbon dioxide removal (CDR). Yet, current assessments rarely include socio-cultural or institutional aspects or fail to contextualize CDR options for implementation. Here we present a context-specific feasibility assessment of CDR options for the example of Germany. We assess 14 CDR options, including three chemical carbon capture options, six options for bioenergy combined with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), and five options that aim to increase ecosystem carbon uptake. The assessment addresses technological, economic, environmental, institutional, social-cultural and systemic considerations using a traffic-light system to evaluate implementation opportunities and hurdles. We find that in Germany CDR options like cover crops or seagrass restoration currently face comparably low implementation hurdles in terms of technological, economic, or environmental feasibility and low institutional or social opposition but show comparably small CO2 removal potentials. In contrast, some BECCS options that show high CDR potentials face significant techno-economic, societal and institutional hurdles when it comes to the geological storage of CO2. While a combination of CDR options is likely required to meet the net-zero target in Germany, the current climate protection law includes a limited set of options. Our analysis aims to provide comprehensive information on CDR hurdles and possibilities for Germany for use in further research on CDR options, climate, and energy scenario development, as well as an effective decision support basis for various actors.

Publishing year

2024-05

Language

English

Publication/Series

Earth's Future

Volume

12

Issue

5

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Keywords

  • bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS)
  • climate mitigation
  • context-specific assessments of carbon dioxide removal
  • direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS)
  • feasibility assessment framework
  • natural sink enhancement (NSE)

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2328-4277