Thread by @KirstenZickfeld

Ever wondered whether carbon dioxide removal has the same effect on atmospheric CO2 and climate as reducing CO2 emissions?

Check out our new paper in @NatureClimate nature.com/articles/s4155…

And/or read our guest post for @CarbonBrief👇

1/7

@SFUResearch

2/ carbonbrief.org/guest-post-why…

And/or read thread below 👇

3/ When balancing CO2 emissions and removals in a #netzero framework it is usually assumed that the climate effect of a CO2 emission is equal and opposite to that of a CO2 removal (“one ton in equals one ton out”). Our paper shows that this assumption is not always correct.

4/ The increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration resulting from CO2 emissions is larger than the decrease resulting from CO2 removals of the same magnitude. This “asymmetry” increases with the size of the emissions and removals.

5/ The change in global mean temperature resulting from CO2 emissions and removals is less asymmetric. For the climate model used in this study, the warming from CO2 emissions is slightly smaller than the cooling from CO2 removals.

6/ Results from our study imply that balancing CO2 emissions with CO2 removals of the same magnitude could result in a different climate outcome than avoiding the CO2 emissions.

7/ Thanks to all co-authors! @DevenAzevedo @SabineMathesius @damon_matthews