Thread by @Peters_Glen

"We are already pretty fucked, I like to say we are in deep shit, & we need to dig ourselves out", explains @climate_ice

A nice frank start to a new documentary on geoengineering (30min)!

But, I do have a few issues on communication... (THREAD)

abc.net.au/foreign/climat…

Many struggle to communicate clearly the differences between mitigation, Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS), Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR), & Solar Radiation Management (SRM). Anything other than mitigation gets called "geoengineering". It is not...
2/ iopscience.iop.org/article/10.108…

Repeat after me: Stabilizing temperatures at 1.5°C, 2.0°C, 2.5°C, at any temperature requires radical short-term emission reductions AND carbon dioxide removal (negative emissions). There is no way to avoid short-term reductions. Full stop!
3/ cicero.oslo.no/no/posts/klima…

I know that @ForeignOfficial did not explicitly say geoengineering & mitigation are substitutes, but I am sure many listeners will see it that way. This is a consequence of how things are pieced together & how CCS, CDR, & SRM are mixed into the same narrative. 4/

Mitigation: Don't put CO₂ into the atmosphere (avoid Fig a or do b)
CCS: Don't emit as much CO₂ while still using fossil fuels (Fig c)
CDR: Physically remove CO₂ from the atmosphere (Figs c, d, e, f, h))
SRM: Directly manage Earth's energy balance
5/ rdcu.be/boDt7

Direct Air Capture (DAC) is particularly problematic. Using CO₂ from DAC to fertilize trees, make soda, or make fuel is an extremely complex & expensive way to put CO₂ back into the atmosphere. It is not CO₂ removal. That requires permanent storage underground. 6/

Clean Coal: “Well clean coal has been a mirage for very many years. It would be wonderful if you could actually have all the benefits of the cheapest fossil fuel & cut the carbon emissions. But it turns out, it’s fairly expensive..." @BjornLomborg 7/

Carbon Dioxide Removal: Removing just one tonne of CO₂ costs $600 (US). "We are confident that in the next 2-3 years we will have our cost in the range of 200-300$/tCO₂ [and by] 2025-2030 we see costs at 100$/tCO₂ as feasible". 8/

Worth noting: To get the IPCC 1% captured by 2025, "It’s like 300 million tonnes of CO₂ & that would require a quarter of a million machines”, is not what @Climeworks does now (adding the transport & storage of CO₂ to their DAC would cost additional engineering & money). 9/

Solar Radiation Management: “It’s so cheap that we are talking about single digit billions of dollars to potentially influence the entire planet’s climate”, @GernotWagner 10/

The technologies discussed have different costs:
* Mitigation: cheap (relatively)
* CCS (clean coal): costly
* CDR (via DAC): expensive
* SRM: "too cheap"

They have different costs, as they do different things. That is a key point...

11/

You can get a summarised version on ABC's The Signal abc.net.au/radio/programs…

(Overall, good job @ericperipatetic, I am just venting my daily frustrations...). Thanks @dmichie66 for pointing me to the show!
12/

The best part of the program is @CICERO_klima's @janfug getting busted taking photos of @anna_pirani at the @IPCC_CH plenary. Did I spot @IPCCMouse too?
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