Thread by @JamesGDyke, Climate policies built around netzero have become a dangerous trap. This is [...]

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="1⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 1" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 1"> Climate policies built around netzero have become a dangerous trap. This is about the hardest article I have written. Not because it’s technical, but because of the emotions & worry of being misunderstood.

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🧵" title="Thread" aria-label="Emoji: Thread"> about why we must talk about netzero. https://theconversation.com/climate-scientists-concept-of-net-zero-is-a-dangerous-trap-157368">https://theconversation.com/climate-s...

Climate scientists: concept of net zero is a dangerous trap

Prominent academics, including a former IPCC chair, round on governments worldwide for using the concept of net zero emissions to 'greenwash' their lack of commitment to solving global warming.

https://theconversation.com/climate-scientists-concept-of-net-zero-is-a-dangerous-trap-157368

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="2⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 2" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 2"> Before that a TLDR: Netzero offers promise of technological salvation that promotes a burn now pay later approach. This risks disaster while accelerating destruction of biodiversity today.

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="3⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 3" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 3"> Still before that: I co-authored this article with Robert Watson (former chair of @IPCC_CH and @IPBES) and Wolfgang Knorr @w_knorr (former group leader @MPI_BGC). So both vastly experienced. I am not a "senior/leading climate scientist"

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="3⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 3" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 3">b Many thanks to @josephineleth & @ConversationUK for commissioning this longread and @AppleNewsUK for joint publication.

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="4⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 4" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 4"> OK, so what is netzero? We& #39;ve all heard the term now - the point where our GHG emissions are balanced by natural and artificial sinks. We must get to netzero as fast as possible to avoid dangerous climate change. All very sensible stuff. https://www.nationalgrid.com/stories/energy-explained/what-is-net-zero">https://www.nationalgrid.com/stories/e...

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="5⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 5" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 5"> The problems begin when climate policy scenarios begin to include speculative Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR). This started in early-mid 1990s. Postulating a future with more trees was used to justify burning more coal. https://www.carbonbrief.org/qa-how-integrated-assessment-models-are-used-to-study-climate-change">https://www.carbonbrief.org/qa-how-in...

Q&A: How 'integrated assessment models' are used to study climate change

Working out the best ways to tackle climate change is one of the key challenges facing policymakers both today and in the decades ahead. To inform these decisions, scientists and economists have...

https://www.carbonbrief.org/qa-how-integrated-assessment-models-are-used-to-study-climate-change

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="6⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 6" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 6"> A few years later, Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) was proposed as enabling climate-friendly coal as the carbon from power stations could be scrubbed out and stored underground. But even though this tech didn& #39;t exist, it began to be included in climate policy scenarios.

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="7⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 7" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 7"> btw CCS for clean coal still does not exist. There has been a single demonstrator facility at Boundary Dam coal station in Canada, but most of the carbon captured is used for Enhanced Oil Recovery (and so further pump out hydrocarbons from the ground). https://theconversation.com/its-time-to-accept-carbon-capture-has-failed-heres-what-we-should-do-instead-82929">https://theconversation.com/its-time-...

It's time to accept carbon capture has failed – here's what we should do instead

Why go to all that bother when you can just half-fill the kettle?

https://theconversation.com/its-time-to-accept-carbon-capture-has-failed-heres-what-we-should-do-instead-82929

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="8⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 8" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 8"> But for years, CCS was touted as the tech that would unlock coal& #39;s contribution to humanity& #39;s energy needs. Eventually by the turn of the millenium most acknowledged it would remain a costly pipe dream. So time for another solution. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/02/clean-coal-america-kemper-power-plant">https://www.theguardian.com/environme...

How America's clean coal dream unravelled

Exclusive: Kemper power plant promised to be a world leader in ‘clean coal’ technology but Guardian reporting found evidence top executives knew of construction problems and design flaws years before...

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/02/clean-coal-america-kemper-power-plant

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="9⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 9" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 9"> This magic bullet would not only have to slow down the rise in carbon concentrations, but actually reverse them given mitigation was proving so hard to produce. And so we see the emergence of Bio Energy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS). https://www.carbonbrief.org/beccs-the-story-of-climate-changes-saviour-technology">https://www.carbonbrief.org/beccs-the...

Timeline: How BECCS became climate change's 'saviour' technology | Carbon Brief

Carbon Brief pieces together the seminal moments which saw BECCS develop into one of the key options for combating climate change.

https://www.carbonbrief.org/beccs-the-story-of-climate-changes-saviour-technology

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🔟" title="Taste 10" aria-label="Emoji: Taste 10"> Nowdays we don& #39;t speak too well of BECCS. It will consume vast amounts of land and water. It will devastate biodiversity. https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/grantham-institute/public/publications/briefing-papers/BECCS-deployment---a-reality-check.pdf">https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imp...