Issue 4, 2021

Life cycle assessment of carbon dioxide removal technologies: a critical review

Abstract

A large number of prospective climate scenarios rely on Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) technologies to limit global warming below 2 °C. To date, however, a comprehensive understanding of the overall life-cycle environmental impacts of CDR technologies is missing. We present a critical review on conducted Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) of a comprehensive set of CDR technologies: afforestation and reforestation, biochar, soil carbon sequestration, enhanced weathering, ocean fertilisation, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, and direct air carbon capture and storage. One of the key observations is that emissions avoided due to substitution of certain processes (due to system expansion in LCA) can be easily misinterpreted as negative emissions, i.e. as carbon removal from the atmosphere. Based on the observed inconsistencies and shortcomings, we recommend to interpret available CDR LCA results with caution. To improve the understanding of environmental implications of CDR deployment, we recommend (1) to conduct LCAs with multiple environmental impact categories, (2) to consider the temporal aspect of emissions in biomass-related CDR technologies, (3) to focus on so far overlooked CDR technologies, (4) to be as transparent as possible regarding methodological choices, (5) to capture environmental side-effects, and (6) to distinguish between ‘avoided emissions’ and ‘negative emissions’ – only negative emissions correspond to permanent removal from the atmosphere. We conclude that more comprehensive and rigorous LCAs are needed to help inform the design of CDR technology portfolios and to aid in anticipatory governance.

Graphical abstract: Life cycle assessment of carbon dioxide removal technologies: a critical review

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
30 Nov 2020
Accepted
15 Feb 2021
First published
16 Feb 2021
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Energy Environ. Sci., 2021,14, 1701-1721

Life cycle assessment of carbon dioxide removal technologies: a critical review

T. Terlouw, C. Bauer, L. Rosa and M. Mazzotti, Energy Environ. Sci., 2021, 14, 1701 DOI: 10.1039/D0EE03757E

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