Terrestrial CO2 Removal: Potentials and tradeoffs in the SDG context

SPP 1689 WORKSHOP // 22 – 23 Jan 2018 // Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, A56

Scientific Coordination: Dieter Gerten, Alexander Popp (PIK)

Motivation

Ambitious climate stabilization targets will – according to the large majority of currently quantified mitigation scenarios – require substantial deployment of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) technologies. Also the Paris Agreement explicitly includes the possibility of such technologies to reach the agreed goals by calling to achieve a “balance between emissions sources and sinks in the second half of the century”. While various CDR technologies are discussed, terrestrial CDR (tCDR) via afforestation and/or bioenergy plantations promise highest potentials. However, large-scale tCDR implementation may violate planetary environmental boundaries and may have severe implications for reaching Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) other than Climate Action, constraining its effectiveness and necessitating multi-perspective negotiations. Those feedbacks and tradeoffs have to be taken into account for a comprehensive evaluation of potential tCDR techniques.

Objective

This workshop will look into a set of pertinent questions related to potentials of tCDR methods and their interaction with SDGs. It will bring together ~ 40 SPP researchers and external experts to increase our holistic understanding of global and regional potentials and sideeffects of tCDR as well as to identify future research priorities.

CONTACT
Ulrike Bernitt // Project Manager SPP 1689 // ubernitt@geomar.de