The inconvenient truth about direct air capture: Realigning climate strategy with physical reality

[Geoengineering News]

https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(26)01942-5

Authors: Charles Q. Jia, Donald W. Kirk

26 June 2026

Summary

Direct air capture (DAC) is promoted as an essential climate solution, yet thermodynamic and energy constraints make deployment at climate-relevant scales deeply problematic. Current DAC systems require 1,500–3,000 kWh per tonne of CO2 captured and stored—one to two orders of magnitude higher than point-source capture and far beyond what global clean-energy availability can support. Meeting even the lower bound of the IPCC’s mid-century carbon-removal targets via DAC alone would demand more than half of today’s global electricity, diverting clean energy away from direct decarbonization. Overreliance on DAC thus risks institutionalizing energy inefficiency and delaying essential emissions cuts. Historical precedents, from acid rain mitigation to ozone recovery, demonstrate that pollution is best addressed at its source. We propose a strategic realignment that prioritizes emissions prevention, strengthens natural carbon uptake through photosynthesis, and deploys proven, energy-positive, negative-emission pathways, such as biochar, that leverage rather than oppose fundamental thermodynamic constraints

Source: Cell Press