From Zero to Hero: How to make the CMC an ambitious lever in the climate fight

Full title. From Zero to Hero: How to make the Carbon Management Challenge an ambitious lever in the climate fight

Pre-print: December 2023. Available in pre-print here.

Written by Stuart Jenkins, Ingrid Sundvor and Myles Allen.

The Carbon Management Challenge (CMC) has set a goal of reaching a minimum of 1 billion tonnes per year of geological carbon dioxide storage by 2030. While in line geological storage required in the International Energy Agency’s Net Zero pathway, there is concern this may be a distraction from the imperative of reducing fossil fuel emissions. Here we show that, if presented in terms of an accelerating Geologically Stored Fraction, the CMC could represent the first phase of a progressive transition to Geological Net Zero by mid-century, consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement.