Operationalizing the net-negative carbon economy.

ABSTRACT: The remaining carbon budget for limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius will probably be exhausted within this decade^1,2. Carbon debt³ generated thereafter will need to be compensated by net-negative emissions⁴. However, economic policy instruments to guarantee potentially very costly net carbon dioxide removal (CDR) have not yet been devised. Here we propose intertemporal instruments to provide the basis for widely applied carbon taxes and emission trading systems to finance a net-negative carbon economy⁵. We investigate an idealized market approach to incentivize the repayment of previously accrued carbon debt by establishing the responsibility of emitters for the net removal of carbon dioxide through 'carbon removal obligations' (CROs).

SUBMITTER: Bednar J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8356218 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature