The UN's climate watchdog has questioned technologies that aim to vacuum carbon pollution from the atmosphere, calling them "unproven" and potentially risky. Unnamed authors from the UN climate body (UNFCCC) said in a briefing that these removal activities are "technologically and economically unproven, especially on a large scale, and pose unknown environmental and social risks." . He concluded that they are therefore not suitable for offsetting carbon emissions under the upcoming global UN scheme. The UN assessment has angered the growing industry, which is seeing billions of dollars in investment from governments and corporations.

Crunch meeting

The paper will inform discussions to be held next week in the German city of Bonn to create a new global carbon trading system under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. UN panel has a role to play  propose rules and indicate which activities should be authorized. It takes into account both land-based solutions, such as planting trees, and technological ones, such as using machines to capture CO2 directly from the air. This process is closely watched because the incorporation of certain technologies over others could have far-reaching implications for the development of the industry.

(Matteo Civillini)