The importance of radical transparency for responsible carbon dioxide removal

Abstract

Carbon removal is a strongly debated component of societal efforts to address anthropogenic climate disruption, in part because efforts to scale carbon removal could delay or substitute for efforts aimed at mitigating anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Although there is no single solution to this problem, we argue here for radical transparency on the data behind carbon removal claims and the data required for evaluating the dollar-per-ton costs of various carbon removal pathways. Although this would represent a major shift from current practice, it has the potential to both minimize the deleterious impacts of carbon removal on near-term mitigation efforts and provide a foundation for ensuring that future carbon removal serves the public good.