Even if the world hits all of our targets for transportation, power, food, nature, and industry, we’ll still emit nearly 10 gigatons of carbon into our atmosphere each year. Our Remove Carbon objective aims to absorb and contain those stubborn remaining emissions.
Our planet needs a diverse portfolio of carbon removal solutions, from direct air capture to forest restoration. To stand a chance to reach net zero in time, we must start funding and scaling them immediately.
By 2050, we aim to remove half of the 10 left-over gigatons with nature-based solutions. The remaining five gigatons present a more difficult challenge. We need to invent and engineer new technologies to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and to lock it away for thousands of years.
Carbon removal to date has yet to scale enough to make real progress toward our goals. We need exponential advances to have any hope of negating residual emissions with removals.
The ultimate responsibility for removing vast amounts of carbon will fall to governments. But for now, companies can play an important role in catalyzing new technologies by purchasing removal in advance, as explained in a blog post here.