Temporary carbon dioxide removal to offset short-lived climate forcers - Preprint

[Geoengineering News]

https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-8806497/v1

Authors: Yue He, Keywan Riahi, Matthew J. Gidden, Shilong Piao, Tao Wang, Thomas Gasser

08 February 2026

Abstract

The growing interest in temporary carbon dioxide removal (CDR) reflects concerns over the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of permanent solutions. However, efforts to integrate temporary CDR into climate policies have relied on flawed equivalency assumptions between temporary and permanent CDR that contradict physical climate science: temporary CDR cannot fully offset CO₂ emissions as permanent CDR can. Instead, we demonstrate that temporary CDR provides an effective mechanism for compensating non-CO2 climate forcers. For instance, offsetting 1 kg CH4 requires 41.3 kg CO2 with 500-year temporary storage (such as biochar) or 716 kg CO2 with 20-year storage (such as bioplastics). This approach is particularly effective for short-lived species because their compensation ratios remain stable across different assessment timeframes, providing robust metrics for climate policy applications. We identify a critical lifetime threshold that separates short-lived and long-lived species for temporary CDR applications, with implementation requiring differentiated reporting of these categories in climate policies. This framework creates a valuable opportunity for sectors like agriculture, where non-CO2 emissions dominate and direct emission reductions remain extremely challenging.

Source: ResearchSquare