Carbon Reduction, (Re)use, and Removal Technologies and Practices

Greenhouse gas emissions are recognised as the principal contributor to climate change and over 75% of those emissions are carbon dioxide (CO₂). To achieve net zero climate targets globally, it is essential to reduce CO₂ emissions are and remove the CO₂ already accumulated in the atmosphere.

As part of the European Green Deal, the European Union has adopted a Communication on Sustainable Carbon Cycles to increase the removal and storage of carbon from the atmosphere, oceans, and (wet)lands through carbon framing and industrial solutions. Balancing CO₂ impacts can be done through reducing, reusing and/or removing carbon dioxide. While there is currently no comprehensive and agreed-on taxonomy for this group of technologies, Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) is broadly applied to cover most technologies but does not typically include mitigation practices.

This collection applies a broader understanding beyond carbon removal alone and includes Carbon Reduction, (Re)use, and Removal Technologies and Practices (CRTP), which include: land-based mitigation technologies and practices (LMTs) in agriculture, forestry and other land use sectors (AFOLU); nature based solutions in cities and peri-urban areas; ocean-based negative emissions technologies; and other engineered solutions that capture, utilise or store carbon (CCUS).

CO₂ capture solutions can include Direct Air Capture (DAC), a process that captures CO₂ directly from the ambient air. Other methods of CO₂ capture solutions can include indirect ocean capture (IOC) in sea water. Carbon can also be removed from the atmosphere through ocean alkalinisation, which enhances the ocean’s natural carbon sink capacity, or through other enhanced weathering (on land) processes. For land-based mitigation technologies and practices (LMTs), carbon is absorbed from atmosphere through the process of photosynthesis and subsequently stored in the above surface and sub-surface biomass and/or in the soil. Upon energetic biomass utilization, CO₂ can also be more permanently stored through bioenergy capture and storage (BECCS). CO₂ can also be recycled, used and stored semi-permanently in products such as chemicals, carbon fibres, polymers, and building materials. Thus, carbon mitigation and removal alone does not guarantee a more sustainable transition and must be considered along with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These include addressing responsible consumption and production and the sustainable use of land and water resources, while simultaneously tackling other major social challenges including affordable clean energy, food security, poverty, reducing inequalities and promoting gender equality for a just and sustainable transition.

The European Commission has identified a number of barriers impeding progress in this area, including a lack of technical expertise, uncertainty around demand, and problems with cross-disciplinary knowledge sharing. Other risks and uncertainties include monitoring and verifying carbon reduction and removals, permanence of CO₂ storage, impacts on biodiversity and unintended social-economic and environmental consequences of implementing and scaling up CRTP. This collection houses interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research including knowledge from stakeholders that are most influential in CRTP implementation as well as those who are most impacted by these technologies and practices. This knowledge base that contributes to reducing these barriers, identifying unintended consequences or feedback either through providing analysis of the existing environment and its relationship with people, offering methodologies, or technical mitigation/ removal, monitoring and verification solutions, modelling potential outcomes of implementing (multiple) solutions, as well as providing recommendations to support the implementation of CCS Directive.

Potential topics for this collection could include but are not limited to:

• Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS)
• Land based mitigation technologies and practices (LMTs)
• Nature based solutions (NBS) / Natural climate solutions (NCS)
• Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS)
• Biochar carbon
• Direct air capture with carbon storage (DACCS)
• Indirect ocean capture (IOC)
• Enhanced weathering including ocean alkalinisation
• Measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) tools
• Carbon credit and certification
• Defining scenarios for CRTP
• Modelling impacts, techno-economic evaluations and life-cycle analysis, and feasibility studies for CRTP
• Stakeholder engagement for feasible implementation and scaling up
• Policy analysis and recommendations on one or a portfolio of CRTPs

Collection advisors: Jenny Lieu (TU Delft, The Netherlands)