It is clear that we can no longer avoid the effects of climate change – we are already experiencing the economic, social and ecosystem impacts of extreme weather events, rising temperatures and melting glaciers. Although scientists and governments have been warning us for decades about the dangers of uncontrolled release of industrial carbon into the atmosphere, the global average of atmospheric carbon dioxide reached a new record of 414.72 ppm in 2021. It is now clear that we have moved from trying to stop climate change to trying to minimize its effects. To achieve this, we need to achieve a carbon negative state in the second half of this century. Achieving this goal will not be possible without effective carbon capture and storage (CCS). Currently, CCS captures 40 million tons of carbon. That may sound like a big number, but it's only 4 % of the 1,000 billion tons that need to be captured to meet the climate goals set by the Paris Agreement by 2030. That is a huge deficit to be paid off in just 7 years. A purposeful, ambitious mix of innovation, policy and financial support is the only way to ensure we don't drop the ball again in protecting our planet. (John Cumbers)