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Scaling up Carbon Dioxide Removal

© Nicolas Herrbach/stock.adobe.com

The project aims at evaluating the scientific, political, and social prerequisites for the development of large-scale demonstration projects for carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere.

Since human activities cannot be fully decarbonized in the future, the development and implementation of CDR techniques on the order of gigatonnes per year is necessary. So far, however, there are no large-scale demonstrators for CDR in Germany - in contrast to some other countries.

The project aims to promote the future development of CDR demonstrators in Germany. The project team would like to connect the community in the Research Field Earth & Environment, which is actively working on approaches for natural and technical carbon removal. In addition, the goal of the project is to conduct a dialogue with the various interest groups (public, politics, industry) about the feasibility and challenges of implementing CDR demonstrators. Finally, the team would like to work together with the mentioned stakeholders to increase the visibility, awareness, and evaluation of risks and impact assessments regarding CDR demonstration projects.

© Jan Pauls Fotografie

General Assembly 2023

Disr Sachse presented the CDR SynCom-project at the Helmholtz Earth & Environment General Assembly.

© Marie Heidenreich

The scientists presented another cross-topic activity in a breakout-session on 15 May 2023: "Carbon sources and sinks in the Earth’s (Surface) System".

© Annette Kirschmann

Kick-off workshop

On September 28/29, the kick-off workshop of 'Scaling up Carbon Dioxide Removal' took place in Berlin. Scientists from all seven Helmholtz Earth and Environment Centres attended. On the first day, Mark Lawrence, Kathleen Mar, Daniela Thrän, and Oliver Geden gave presentations on research highlights and on the politics of CDR policymaking. On the second day, the group was split into three breakout sessions discussing research synthesis, connection of science and industry, and science-policy dialogues.

Second Workshop SynCom-Project „Scaling up Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR)” (23.–24.04.2024)
The SynCom project 'Scaling up Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR)' is organising its second workshop for project participants. Registration is now open.

We will explore how to create effective science policy dialogues, look for ways to work well with others in science and industry, and combine different areas of scientific knowledge related to CDR. Our goal is to engage in cross-disciplinary discussions to develop new ideas that not only advance our project but also benefit science and society as a whole. Further, we would like to exchange ideas with industry representatives.

Contact

Prof Dr Dirk Sachse: dirk.sachse@gfz-potsdam.de
Prof Dr Gesine Mollenhauer: gesine.mollenhauer@awi.de

A mailing list has been set up for this project. To sign up, click here:

https://www.listserv.dfn.de/sympa/subscribe/syncom-scalingupcdr?previous_action

This list will be used to inform participants about upcoming meetings and the work in progress. Helmholtz Earth and Environment scientists who are not officially part of the project are also invited to join this list.