Opportunities and risks of methods to capture and store carbon from the atmosphere

To support long-term global climate targets and to contribute to limiting global warming to 1.5 °C, the Swiss Federal Council decided on 28 August 2019 to reduce its net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to zero by 2050 at the latest. This means that GHG emissions from sources in Switzerland must be in balance with available GHG sinks by that time. This goal is to be achieved primarily by reducing fossil fuel consumption to a minimum. The remaining emission sources, some of which are very difficult to avoid (e.g. in agriculture and cement production), are to be balanced by negative emissions. CO₂ is to be removed from the atmosphere and permanently stored by using methods for capturing CO₂ from the air and storing it (referred to in the study as negative emission technologies [NET]).

Condensed version of the study: “Extracting CO2 from the air: carbon capture and storage”