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Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, and CO₂

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Balancing Energy and the Environment

There is concern that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activity (anthropogenic GHGs) are having an effect on the global climate. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is the principal anthropogenic GHG. The amount of carbon from anthropogenic CO₂ entering in the atmosphere has grown from a few million tons per year in 1850 to over 9 billion tons per year today.¹ Anthropogenic CO₂ emissions will double over the next half century if countries like China and India continue to develop in a business-as-usual way.

Should stabilization of CO₂ and other GHGs in the atmosphere be deemed necessary, there would need to be a reduction in the amount of CO₂ and other GHGs that are released by human activity. Reducing anthropogenic CO₂ emissions with the goal of stabilizing the level of CO₂ in the atmosphere is called CO₂ management.

CO₂ management is a complex issue because most of the anthropogenic CO₂ comes from the use of fossil fuels for energy, and maintaining our energy flow is critical to our economy and our quality of life. Hear more about Balancing Energy and the Environment.

CO₂ emissions can be reduced by energy conservation, the use of more efficient fossil fuel energy systems, increased use of renewable and nuclear energy, and carbon sequestration. Carbon sequestration, the capture and long-term storage of CO₂ from the atmosphere or from anthropogenic CO₂ sources, is emerging as a major strategy for addressing climate change concerns.
Watch DOE Video “An Introduction to Carbon Capture and Sequestration”

It will be a major challenge to reduce anthropogenic CO₂ output while maintaining a strong economy. Experts agree that all options, from energy conservation to CO₂ sequestration, will be needed over the long term to reduce anthropogenic CO₂ emissions and the risk of climate change.² CO₂ sequestration will be an important part of this effort.²

• Greenhouse Effect
• Climate Change
• CO₂ from Human Action (anthropogenic CO₂)
• Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
• What Is CO₂ Sequestration?
• Natural Geologic Accumulations of CO₂
• Carbon and CO₂ on Earth – Things Have Changed!
• CO₂ Wedges – Cutting Human CO₂ Emissions Down to Size

References

1. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, http://cdiac.ornl.gov/trends/emis/meth_reg.html
   (accessed November 2010).
2. Pacala, S., and Socolow, R., 2004, Stabilization wedges-solving the climate problem for the next 50 years with current technologies: Science, v. 305, p. 968-972.