Scientists in the United Nations are likely to weigh up technology to remove CO2 from the atmosphere as they gather to finalise a key report.
The idea will be one among many solutions that will be considered over the next two weeks by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Also in attendance will be government officials from across the globe who must review the summary report, which is due to be published on April 4, 2022.
The new study will be the third among three important reports from the IPCC issued over the last eight months. While the previous reports have looked at the causes and impacts of climate change, the new report will focus on mitigation, or, what we can do to stop it.
This translates to technologies that may be employed by researchers in their bid to remove gases that contribute to global warming. This is expected to include conventional practices such as sustainable agro practices and planting of trees, as well as approaches that use large machines to remove carbon from the air.
Scientists may also partake in unorthodox carbon retrieval methods, which may include traditional techniques of soil preservation. So, farmers could continue to burn stubble, weed, and waste before sowing crops, but while capturing and burying carbon.
What ultimately emerges in the short summary for policymakers that will be published in two weeks will depend on delicate negotiations with government representatives from 195 countries. Researchers and officials will work through the summary to agree on the final text.
The new report, which is a part of a regular review of the science dating back to 1990, will also have a new focus on the social aspects of cutting carbon.
There will be enhanced focus on short term actions that governments can take in the remaining years of this decade to keep the rise in global temperatures under 1.5-degrees-Celsius this century, BBC News had reported.
* This article was originally published by Oman News Agency and has been edited for clarity.
