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With companies floating plans to suck carbon out of the air, is carbon capture just a hype or distraction to slashing emission? Critics opine that allowing polluters to compensate for their emissions is no solution to climate change.

2021 was Earth’s 5th hottest year on record. With Arctic ice melting, heat waves, fires, and droughts — our planet is bearing the brunt of global warming. This is a clear manifestation of the increasing greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.

To tackle emission levels, carbon offsetting has evolved as a measure to compensate for carbon emissions by way of reforestation or switching to clean energy sources. Offsetting starts with measuring your carbon footprint to setting strategies to transition to a low emission operating model and decarbonizing your organization. Carbon capture aims to suction CO2 from the air (biosphere) during industrial processes and trap it under underground storage tanks (geosphere), where it won’t heat the planet. For every tonne of CO2 emitted, another tonne has to captured elsewhere.

The dilemma is will carbon capture resolve the global warming issue. In this article we cut through the spin and look at the facts of the feasibility of this option towards a low carbon future.

One piece of the puzzle

Billion tons of carbon dioxide exists in the atmosphere and there’s little scientific evidence that removing amounts of it can dramatically prevent dangerous levels of warming or stabilize the planet’s climate. Reforestation and adoption of clean energy sources are necessary to slow warming, although direct removal could be an important piece of the clean energy puzzle in the cement, steel and chemical production units.

Unrealistic solution

Governments assert that carbon credits released and captured back in a global carbon market can help them achieve emission reduction targets, but environmental experts warn that such a system provides rich countries with a license to keep its polluting projects on. They will use carbon capture as an excuse to keep burning fossil fuels and take no painstaking efforts for a long-term switch to clean energy sources.

Evolving technology, expensive option

Of the 65 projects, 19 large-scale carbon capture sequestration facilities are fully operating around the world, 12 of which are in the US. That’s because t carbon capture technology is eye-wateringly expensive to be attractive right now. It is much more feasible to plant trees and switch to nature-based solutions than to deploy nascent technologies to capture carbon and store it geologically.

Carbon capture and storage is no silver bullet to tackle climate crisis

The ability to pull carbon out of the air is no silver lining in the cloud. No single carbon capture project in the world has captured the agreed amount of carbon. Even its neither the cheapest nor the most effective way to fight climate change. This offsetting technique must never allow companies to bypass their environmental commitment to reduce emissions at source and adopt green energy sources.

The UAE response to climate change:

In alignment with UAE’s Net zero 2050 vision, the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD) is leading several projects to curb the impact of climate change. The involves long-term strategies to reduce emissions to zero by 2050. The UAE has taken noted initiatives to derive 50% of its power requirements from clean energy:

– Noor Abu Dhabi solar PV plant is projected to avoid up to 1 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.
– Barakah nuclear power plant would avoid 21 million tonnes of emissions.
– Al Dhafra 2GW single site solar PV plant would reduce 2.4 million tonnes of emissions.
– Two solar projects with 2GW capacity will avoid 2.6 million tonnes of emissions.
– Two waste-to-energy plants in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain are expected to reduce 2.4 million tonnes of emissions.

Key sectors such as energy, industry, infrastructure, transport, and agriculture are updating strategies and implementing projects to achieve net zero emissions. In order to reduce C02 emission from transport sector, Dubai’s Green Mobility strategy has encouraged the rapid adoption of eco-friendly electric vehicles to phase out use of motor vehicles.

Electric Way, a top electrical equipment and lighting supplier in Dubai, is unwaveringly aligned to the UAE’s Vision 2050 and has been actively propagating the switch to green technology to tackle climate change. Our portfolio of solar street lights, LED luminaires, EV charging technology and smart energy-efficient automation systems have been fitted in residential and commercial spaces throughout UAE. Avail our technical expertise to help offset carbon emissions on your mix of projects and acquire a carbon-neutral status.

To know more about our versatile range of eco-friendly cables, wires, lighting and charging systems visit www.electriway.com