Preface

Countries in the world are taking measures to deal with climate change, and will become a net zero carbon dioxide emission country by 2050. Recently, Joe Biden (Joe Biden) won the presidential election, which means that the United States is the latest country to adopt this goal.

So what does zero net worth mean? Completely eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions? unnecessary. The “net” part of zero net value means that as long as we offset (or remove) these emissions from the atmosphere elsewhere, we can still emit CO 2.

You may have heard a lot of topics about “net zero” in the media recently. China recently announced plans to achieve this goal by 2060. France, the United Kingdom and New Zealand will achieve a net zero goal by 2050. In Australia, all states and territories have implemented a zero net strategy, and the federal government is under pressure to fulfill the country’s commitments.

You may also have heard the term “zero emission”, “low emission” and “carbon neutral”, so let us figure out what all these terms mean in practice.

Master zero net worth

Not only countries that can produce zero emissions. The term can also apply to states, cities, companies and even individual buildings. Under the zero net program, emissions are still being produced, but are offset by the same amount of emissions elsewhere. Examples of offset activities include planting trees to absorb carbon dioxide or using other natural ecosystems to increase carbon storage in the biosphere.

Sometimes the term “carbon neutral” is used instead of zero net worth. They are broadly the same thing. There are also two specific types of carbon neutralization technologies:

The process of producing carbon dioxide in the short term will not increase global warming. Bioenergy is an example, in which carbon dioxide is initially absorbed by organic materials and then converted into energy and released. In general, emissions are stable and there is no net increase in CO 2. A process that produces carbon dioxide, but captures and sequesters (stores) carbon dioxide instead of releasing it into the atmosphere. An example is a coal-fired power plant equipped with carbon capture and storage technology.

Don’t be confused by these terms

To understand the term “zero net emissions”, we must also understand what it is not. It should not be confused with the following related but independent concepts:

Zero emission: This refers to a process that does not release CO 2 at all. In fact, in our current global mining and manufacturing system, no technology can produce zero emissions. Technologies such as solar panels and wind energy are generally considered zero emissions, but technically they are not. They have so-called “embedded emissions”, which are emissions generated when the technology is manufactured. However, unlike fossil fuel energy, wind and solar energy will not produce continuous emissions after installation.

Carbanion: This means removing CO 2 from the atmosphere or sequestering more CO 2 than emitted. This may include bioenergy processes with carbon capture and storage.

Low emissions: The rate of production of greenhouse gases is lower than normal. Examples include switching from coal-fired power generation to gas-fired power generation to generate the same amount of electricity but with fewer emissions.

Back to zero net worth

There are several key ways to move towards zero net emissions, which are reflected in most national plans:

Significantly reduce or eliminate the use of fossil fuels in the energy sector (including transportation)
Improve efficiency and/or develop new technologies in other sectors that generate emissions but cannot easily reduce them (such as manufacturing and agriculture)
Invest in biological sequestration (also called afforestation or tree planting) and carbon-negative technologies to offset any continuous or unavoidable emissions.

There is no technology or quantity of trees planted that can offset the current global emissions. Therefore, almost every net-zero plan includes reasons for reducing and ultimately replacing fossil fuels in the first place. Fossil fuels can be used to achieve net zero emissions through compensation or carbon capture and storage, but in many cases this is not actually the most cost-effective or practical way to achieve net zero emissions. Just reaching the first two points will not bring the world to zero net worth. There will also be a need to adopt a carbon-negative approach-removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Most countries plan to achieve this goal through land management techniques such as reforestation. However, the amount of CO 2 offset by the natural carbon negative solution may be difficult to measure. In addition, the long-term delivery of carbon offsets cannot always be guaranteed-for example, the replanted forest may die in the forest or burn in a fire, releasing CO 2 back into the atmosphere. Other more well-designed solutions can also remove CO 2 from the atmosphere. These include the use of biochar, a charcoal-like material added to the soil. It promotes microbial activity and soil clumping, preventing organic plants from decomposing and releasing carbon. But this method still has room for sustainable development.