The U.S. government is about to give what may prove a significant boost to the controversial carbon dioxide removal sector, according to a new report.
There are several existing or potential carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies out there, ranging from old-fashioned tree planting to capturing greenhouse gas from the air and storing the carbon underground. All come with big potential downsides, with many coming down to a lack of evidence that they can work affordably at scale—critics say CDR could be a distraction from renewable energy technologies that we know do work, like solar or wind, and they fear it could be used to excuse the continued burning of fossil fuels.
