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Home » Prof. Peter Wadhams | Can we remove billions of tonnes of CO2? And methane?

Prof. Peter Wadhams | Can we remove billions of tonnes of CO2? And methane?

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Nick Breeze

Climate journalist and host of the ClimateGenn podcast.

In this ClimateGenn episode, I am speaking to professor Peter Wadhams from the University of Cambridge about his recent research for a book he is writing on the viability of greenhouse gas removal from the atmosphere.

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Some of these are also referred to as negative emissions technologies, or ‘nets’ and are widely included in national emissions reduction plans despite none being proven at scale today. We discuss the viability of various proposed techniques including tree planting, bioenergy capture and storage as well as direct air capture and ocean proposals including farming kelp and the use of diatoms for large-scale sequestration.

In the last segment, we discuss the risks posed by Arctic methane releases and two proposed techniques for dealing with a potential methane emergency, whereby multiple billions of tonnes of the potent greenhouse gas are released at once. These are controversial proposals despite policymakers assuming they will work in the future. The danger of these suppositions is compounded by the fact that many research projects are embryonic and underfunded. Thank you for listening.

In the next episode, I speak with author Professor Tom Rosenstiel about his new political thriller, The Days To Come. In this interview, we discuss fiction writing and journalism and how these both intersect with reality to shape our world.

You can subscribe to all major podcast channels or Youtube and you can also support my work via https://Patreon.com/genncc Visit https://genn.cc for more information.

1 thought on “Prof. Peter Wadhams | Can we remove billions of tonnes of CO2? And methane?”

  1. Thank you Nick and Professor Wadhams for this very informative podcast. I have been listening to the podcast for long time but this one really struck home with the points regarding the need to quicky ramp the activity on carbon level reduction before the destabilising effects of the warming climate cause significant reduction of the worlds ability to coordinate on such a global mega-project.
    I sense that we have replaced a discourse between climate change denial and climate change action with a new more insidious discussion between incremental climate change action and the need for emergency global coordination to secure a viable future for generations to come.
    Thanks again,
    Scott

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