The realist’s road to zero
We can’t build a net-zero world without using steel and concrete, so reaching our goal means decarbonizing these carbon-intensive industries. The trouble is, many of the solutions rely on the same limited pool of green resources. In this series, The Possible explores the tough choices ahead for policymakers in a world that’s running out of options
January 2022
#1
Concrete and steel
The production of cement and steel requires huge amounts of energy. We can’t do without them, but can they ever be zero-carbon?
Read the story
#2
Decarbonizing renewables
There’s no getting round it: to decarbonize the world’s power supply, we are going to have to “spend” a lot of carbon in the process. But there are ways we can reduce the size of the bill.
Read the story
#3
The hydrogen economy
Hydrogen could help many of the world’s most carbon-intensive processes to reach net-zero — just as long as we can decarbonize the production of hydrogen itself.
Read the story
#4
Nature-based offsets
We could — and should — grow more trees. But that won’t be anywhere near enough to avert the climate crisis. We need to look further than nature-based offsets, and perhaps more closely at forests themselves.
Read the story
#5
Carbon capture, utilization and storage
As things stand, almost all decarbonization roads eventually lead to CCUS technology. But there are currently fewer than 30 plants operational worldwide. So how do we get from here to net-zero?
Read the story
Leave a comment