To achieve goals for climate and economic growth, "negative emissions technologies" (NETs) that remove and sequester carbon dioxide from the air will need to play a significant role in mitigating climate change. Unlike carbon capture and storage technologies that remove carbon dioxide emissions directly from large point sources such as coal power plants, NETs remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere or enhance natural carbon sinks. Storing the carbon dioxide from NETs has the same impact on the atmosphere and climate as simultaneously preventing an equal amount of carbon dioxide from being emitted. Recent analyses found that deploying NETs may be less expensive and less disruptive than reducing some emissions, such as a substantial portion of agricultural and land-use emissions and some transportation emissions.


In 2015, the National Academies published Climate Intervention: Carbon Dioxide Removal and Reliable Sequestration, which described and initially assessed NETs and sequestration technologies. This report acknowledged the relative paucity of research on NETs and recommended development of a research agenda that covers all aspects of NETs from fundamental science to full-scale deployment. To address this need, Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration: A Research Agenda assesses the benefits, risks, and "sustainable scale potential" for NETs and sequestration. This report also defines the essential components of a research and development program, including its estimated costs and potential impact.


Table of Contents


Front Matter
Summary
1 Introduction
2 Coastal Blue Carbon
3 Terrestrial Carbon Removal and Sequestration
4 Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Sequestration
5 Direct Air Capture
6 Carbon Mineralization of CO2
7 Sequestration of Supercritical CO2 in Deep Sedimentary Geological
Formations
8 Synthesis
Glossary
Acronyms and Abbreviations
References
Appendix A: Committee Bios
Appendix B: Disclosure of Conflict of Interest
Appendix C: Coastal Blue Carbon:Macroalgae
Appendix D: CO2 Flux Calculation
Appendix E: Carbon Mineralization
Appendix F: Geologic Storage