by Prof. Dr. Klaus Lackner, Arizona State University

Prof. Dr. Klaus Lackner is Director of Center for Negative Carbon Emissions and Professor at the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, Arizona State University.

The special event on the discussion on climate change was held at the Windlab on July 5, 2018, from 4 to 6 pm.

The flyer for the event can be downloaded here.

“The world is overspending its carbon budget and will have to recover carbon that has already been released into the environment. The ambitious climate targets in the 2015 Paris Accord can only be met with negative emissions. Capture of carbon dioxide from the air will be central to any negative emission strategy. Unlike biomass capture, direct air capture is a scalable technology for reversing past emissions. Air capture linked to carbon disposal makes it possible to rethink carbon management as waste management rather than pollution mitigation. The change in perspective matters: Waste must be eliminated not just reduced. A disposal requirement also adds value to reducing CO2 emissions, creating useful material from CO2, or recycling it into synthetic fuels that store renewable energy. I will review the technical, economic and policy related challenges of direct air capture and conclude that the potential societal benefits of direct air capture justify a serious, worldwide development effort.”