To tackle climate change, carbon storage should be all the rage

Executive Editor
Source: McKinsey & Company *Bio-charcoal is charcoal derived from burning organic agriculture and forestry waste products

Most of the carbon dioxide emissions that could be technically captured by 2030 will likely be stored, according to McKinsey & Company.

That’s because the sheer volume of carbon dioxide we’re emitting is massive. We emit 51 billion tons of greenhouse gases a year, with CO2 comprising most of that. Whether it’s sustainable aviation fuel or carbon-recycled yoga pants, there’s not enough of either to begin stabilizing Earth’s temperature.

“The fact LanzaTech is making yoga pants with Lululemon is slick,” said Julio Friedmann, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. “We’re not going to solve the CO2 problem by making yoga pants.” It does help bring down costs, though, as we wrote last week.

Yoga pants would fit under the “plastics and chemicals” category.