Editorial : Developing and Deploying Negative Emission Technologies: System-Level Assessment and Rationalization

Climate change, induced by the excessive amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from
anthropogenic activities, is one of the greatest global challenges of our times. To address this
challenge, a range of important measures are being developed or have already been adopted,
including switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy resources, reducing emissions through
improving efficiencies and demand management, and capturing CO2 at point sources with
subsequent storage to avoid their release to the atmosphere. In addition to measures curbing
new emissions, intentional atmospheric carbon dioxide removal (CDR) by negative emissions
technologies (NETs) is increasingly considered as necessary for compliance with ambitious
temperature targets. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2018), all
climate pathways that limit global warming to 1.5 ◦ C with controlled (or no) overshoot project
the use of CDR in the order of 100–1,000 GtCO2 over the twenty first century. The deployment of
NETs, removing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it on land, underground, or in the oceans,
could become one of the most significant undertakings in industrial development, with profound
impacts on the future of our society.