Continued fossil fuel development puts existing assets at risk of exceeding the capacity compatible with limiting global warming below 2 °C. However, it has been argued that plant conversions and new abatement technologies may allow for a smoother transition. We...
The concept of net-zero carbon emissions has emerged from physical climate science. However, it is operationalized through social, political and economic systems. We identify seven attributes of net zero, which are important to make it a successful framework for...
Commitments to net zero carbon emissions are growing. More will be needed, but the immediate challenge now is to start implementing what has been pledged. This commentary highlights five strategic interventions that can help to unlock the systemic changes that net...
We introduce the carbon takeback obligation (CTBO), a supply-side mitigation policy requiring extractors and importers of fossil fuels to recapture and store a progressively increasing fraction of the CO2generated by their activities and products, and use a novel...
This Perspective explores the local governance of ocean-based carbon dioxide removal (CDR). Proposals to enhance the ability of oceans and marine ecosystems to absorb atmospheric CO2 are often discussed as examples of “geoengineering,” but this framing obscures the...