Why carbon removals matter

In 2024, for the first time, we passed 1.5 degrees of warming over pre-industrial temperatures for 12 consecutive months¹. It’s not the official metric used to determine if we’ve passed the 1.5 degree threshold from the Paris Agreement (that requires a longer timeframe), but it’s certainly not something we want to see. Record breaking heatwaves, flooding and storms are becoming ever more common and pose increased risk to our daily lives².

Addressing climate change isn’t just about the environment anymore, it’s about us. It’s about the survival of humanity. It sounds extreme, but sadly it’s not. The World Health Organisation expects that between 2030 and 2050, climate change will cause 250,000 additional deaths per year from undernutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress alone³. We hear devastating climate-related news stories on a daily basis and frequently, these stories include loss of life. There’s also the loss of life which you don’t hear about. In Europe, it’s estimated there were approximately 50,000 heat related deaths in 2023⁴, with this figure likely to rise in coming decades as temperatures also increase. Have you noticed how we no longer hear about the poor polar bear on their melting iceberg? There’s a reason for that. It’s not that the plight of the polar bear has been in any way reduced, it’s that we’ve taken their place.

The real worry isn’t 1.5 degrees of warming. And perhaps, that’s the trouble with the 1.5 degree target, it doesn’t seem like much. Even 2 degrees of warming doesn’t sound like that much. Can you notice a 3 degree temperature change? What people should be very worried about is 4 degrees of warming. What does a world with 5 degrees of warming look like? Spoiler – it’s not good. Worryingly, reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) show we’re already on track for over 3 degrees of warmings with emissions still trending up⁵.

It’s not too late, and fortunately, there are roadmaps in place for how climate change can be tackled⁶. Estimates place the cost of action at between 1-3% of global GDP, and while high, this cost pales in comparison to the cost of inaction, which researchers believe could be multiples greater⁷. Any action to combat climate change starts with reductions. We must stop emitting and polluting. That means embracing renewables, decarbonising industry and moving to more sustainable forms of agriculture. It’s about changing habits and making an effort to support organisations that are making progress towards being more sustainable.

Unfortunately, we’ve left it too late for emission reductions alone to get us to net zero in time. To reach our 2050 goals and limit warming to 1.5 degrees, the IPCC expects between 5 and 10 billion tonnes of removals will be required annually⁸. If net zero alone isn’t a large enough challenge, consider that once reached, we then must begin the mammoth task of reversing all emissions already released to date. This will be on the scale of thousands of billions of tonnes. Removals are not as easy as reductions, nor should they be viewed as an alternative to reductions – but they are required. We need to make use of every tool available and we must demand ambitious action at all levels if we’re to meaningfully move the needle. Our iceberg is melting – it’s time we do something about it.