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The Role Of Carbon Capture And Storage On Climate Change Mitigation

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The role of carbon capture and storage in climate change mitigation
Why the interest in CCS?
As anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions increase atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, the resulting climate system warming poses an increasingly serious environmental challenge. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), it is now very likely that these emissions are responsible for most of the recent measured global average surface temperature increase, totalling about 0.65?C or 0.10 - 0.16?C per decade between 1956 and 2005 (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2007). As shown in Figure 1.1, equilibrium global temperatures depend on the concentration of atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions (ibid). Rising global temperatures increase the risk of extreme changes in the climate and impacts natural systems supporting water availability, species habitat, and food production.
A significant global reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is required to limit these risks and impacts ((IPCC), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007); (National Research Council, 2011). In particular, there is some consensus that this warming should be limited to 2?C above pre-industrial levels (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2007); (National Acadamy of Science, 2011), requiring an 80%-85% decrease in global CO2 emissions by mid-century (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2007) . If these goals to reduce the risks associated

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