This Fact Sheet summarizes the official scientific stance of the IPCC Working Group III. It defines what carbon removal is (and isn’t) and its unavoidable role in all successful climate scenarios.
Official Definition & Scope
The IPCC is precise: Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) refers exclusively to human activities that remove CO2 from the atmosphere and durably store it in geological, terrestrial, or ocean reservoirs, or in products. Key Fact: CDR is not the same as traditional Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), which captures emissions at a factory smokestack. CDR must take CO2 out of the ambient air.
The “Unavoidable” Role of CDR
The report establishes that deploying CDR is necessary and unavoidable to reach net zero. It serves three critical sequential functions:
- Near-term: Complementing massive emission reductions (helping to lower the peak).
- Medium-term: Counterbalancing residual emissions from “hard-to-abate” sectors like aviation, shipping, and agriculture.
- Long-term: Achieving net-negative emissions, drawing down atmospheric CO2 concentrations to attempt to reverse warming.
Maturity & Types of Methods
The IPCC classifies methods by their maturity and mechanism:
- Biological Methods (Mature): Reforestation and soil carbon management. These are low-cost and ready to deploy but vulnerable to reversal (wildfires, pests) and land competition.
- Technological/Geochemical Methods (Emerging): Direct Air Capture (DAC) with geological storage, enhanced weathering, and ocean alkalinization. These offer high-durability storage (centuries/millennia) but are currently expensive and in early development stages.
The Governance Challenge
The Fact Sheet warns that the massive scaling required (billions of tons) carries sustainability risks. Large-scale deployment of biological methods (like crops for bioenergy) could threaten biodiversity and food security if not managed correctly. Therefore, technological innovation is crucial to reduce the required land footprint.
