| Abstract: |
Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) involves the application of chemical or
biological processes by which CO2 can be removed from the atmosphere and
stored in reservoirs including living biomass (like forests), long-lived wood
products, soils, oceans, and underground (geologic) storage sites. CDR is a
complement to mitigating (avoiding) GHGs to prevent their buildup in the
atmosphere, the cause of climate change.The 2015 Paris Agreement, adopted by
nearly 200 countries under the auspices of the 1992 United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change, established the aim of limiting the global
average temperature increase from global emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs)
to less than 2.0°C, and as close to 1.5°C as possible, to limit dangerous
consequences of climate change. Achieving that aim will require a concerted
international effort to reduce the release of GHGs to the atmosphere to zero
by midcentury.Many analysts have concluded that achieving the Paris
temperature limits is infeasible without major increases in CDR, even with
aggressive measures to limit GHGs—which have not yet been achieved.
Furthermore, net-negative emissions removal (above and beyond what is achieved
by a net-zero economy) will be necessary to reduce the stock of atmospheric
CO2 if, as is currently feared, emissions overshoot the trajectory for
achieving the Paris temperature limits.However, few countries have set removal
goals (Smith et al. 2023; Coalition for Negative Emissions 2021; Environmental
Defense Fund 2021; Committee on Developing a Research Agenda for Carbon
Dioxide Removal and Reliable Sequestration et al. 2019; IPCC 2018). Moreover,
the nature and design of policies to motivate and finance the necessary
amounts of CDR have received little attention until quite recently. Meeting
the technological and economic challenges requires rapid and significant
advances in CDR capability, plus financing and installing massive amounts of
CDR going forward. Policymakers must ensure that reliable CDR gets built and
used, with technologies that are reasonably ready for commercial-scale
application; that investments are cost-effective; and that equity and fairness
issues are addressed with attention to community effects, community
participation, environmental protection, and environmental justice.This paper
examines a pioneering effort to establish a policy structure for CDR in
California. Submitted to the California legislature in early 2023, Senate Bill
(SB) 308, the Carbon Dioxide Removal Market Development Act, proposed that
participants in the state’s emissions trading system (ETS) be required to
reduce their remaining emissions by increasing percentages over time through
investing in CDR (or other means). The fundamental aim was to kickstart a
commercial CDR market. The original version of the bill included provisions
for regulatory oversight of CDR projects, financial responsibility of project
developers, monitoring and verification, and the interests of communities
adjacent to CDR facilities. The bill was substantially revised in ways that
removed the CDR mandate and other key provisions, leaving decisions to be made
subsequently by regulators. The bill did not make it out of the State
Assembly’s appropriations committee and died near the end of the legislative
session, in August 2024.SB308 brought to the fore issues that need to be
addressed in any subsequent effort to establish a CDR program in California,
or any other jurisdiction. The intent of this retrospective analysis is to
highlight those issues, discuss how SB308 addressed them, and identify gaps
that could be filled and changes that could be made in future efforts. |