Less CO2 storage due to lower yield

Plants absorb CO2 from the air and store it. If you turn them into biofuels and capture the CO2 in flue to store deep underground, you theoretically have an energy source with negative greenhouse gas emissions. However, this technique must be used quickly, otherwise global warming would reduce crop yields to such an extent that it is hardly effective, according to a research team with Austrian participation. In the magazine “Nature” ,

In current climate scenarios (to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius) to achieve the Paris climate goals, it is taken into account that this technology is used extensively. However, according to the research team, one should not wait for long. ron vango from Fudan University in Shanghai. was also in the study Thomas Gasser from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenberg, near Vienna.

Critical temperature for Mecca is 29 degrees

The yields of major caloric sources such as maize, wheat, rice and soybeans drop sharply once a certain temperature is reached. For corn, for example, the critical temperature is 29 °C, explains the Austrian environmental economist. Gernot Wagner who works at Columbia Business School in the US, in a commentary to the magazine.

Efforts to curb global warming also rely on the use of plant biomass to reduce emissions. Quick action is needed to avoid such tipping points, says Wagner: “either by limiting CO2 emissions warming the planet, or by relocating large-scale grain fields.” Both are probably necessary.

“a hot mess”

Wouldn’t it be by 2060 that “bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, BECCS)” Used extensively, global warming is already over 2.5 °C according to most models.

Then biomass yields for bioenergy would not only be too low to achieve climate goals, but a vicious cycle would also be set in motion, explain both the research team and Wagner and his colleagues in the expert article. wolfram schlenker In comment: Because BECCS is hardly effective then, the temperature rises higher than calculated. “In this scenario, the two negative effects are combined, resulting in a hot mess,” Wagner and Schlenker say.

food safety risk

Rising temperatures will increase the demand for land not only for bioenergy, but certainly for agriculture as well. If you wait too long, you also run the risk of a food crisis, according to researchers in the expert article.

Wang, Gasser and their co-authors write, “Our findings strengthen the urgency for early mitigation of global warming, preferably before 2040, to avoid irreversible climate change and severe food crises, unless in the near future.” Additional negative emissions technologies may not be available.” On the other hand, for Wagner and Schlenker, the research results are “further evidence that relying on technological breakthroughs across the board is a risky undertaking”.