Source: Photo.com
On April 18, according to Reuters, NOAA and ICRI, the International Coral Reef Association, jointly announced the latest global coral bleaching event, along the coastline from Australia to Kenya to Mexico, coral reefs in at least 54 countries and regions have seen large-scale bleaching, which is the fourth global coral bleaching event in the past 30 years.
At least 850 million people worldwide will be severely affected by the important role of coral reef ecosystems, with reduced incomes and food scarcity becoming scarce.
The past three global coral bleaching events have been reported to have occurred in 1998, 2010 and 2014-2017.
NOAA experts expect this global albinism event to be perhaps the most widespread to date. Derek Manzelo, coordinator of the Coral Reef Observation Program, said: "As the ocean continues to warm, coral bleaching is becoming more frequent and severe. ”
NOAA estimates that coral reefs on Earth have already declined by 30 to 50 percent, and that coral reefs could disappear altogether by the end of the century if significant changes are not made.
Global carbon dioxide emissions have risen significantly, and extreme weather is frequent
Scientific studies have shown that excessive carbon emissions contribute to global warming, the greenhouse effect, and extreme weather. Among them, the greenhouse effect is the most direct and serious problem. In 2020, carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere exceeded 400 ppm, and the global average surface temperature increased by about 1.25°C from the 19th-century baseline, and 0.6°C above the reference period from 1981 to 2010, approaching the hottest record for 2016. According to monitoring, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in 2021 is expected to exceed 420 ppm, so controlling carbon emissions is of long-term and important development significance.
In addition to the significant increase in carbon dioxide emissions, ocean warming, shrinking polar ice caps, glacier retreat, snow cover, sea level rise, ocean acidification, and the occurrence of extreme weather are all valid evidence of global warming.
Direct air capture CO2 technology captures CO2 emissions from distributed sources
From the perspective of the capture process, according to the sequence of carbon capture and combustion processes, the traditional carbon capture methods mainly include pre-combustion capture, oxygen-enriched combustion and post-combustion capture.
At present, carbon capture and storage mainly focuses on the disposal and capture of CO2 emitted from industrial stationary sources, but does not pay much attention to CO2 from distributed sources, which accounts for nearly 50% of total CO2 emissions. Direct air capture of CO2 can not only capture CO2 emitted by millions of small fossil fuel combustion plants and hundreds of millions of vehicles, but also effectively reduce the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere.
There is an obvious trend of incremental cost reduction in carbon dioxide capture
Carbon capture technology is an indispensable part of achieving carbon neutrality by avoiding carbon emissions at the source. According to the China's CCUS technology development roadmap proposed by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the national CO2 capture scale is expected to reach 1 million tons by 2025 and grow to more than 3 million tons by 2050, with huge market potential.
From the perspective of capture cost, the capture cost of high-concentration (>70%) CO2 will drop from more than 100 yuan/tCO2 in 2025 to less than 50 yuan/tCO2 in 2050. Low concentrations (
Liu Qiang, director of the Energy Security and New Energy Research Office of the Institute of Quantitative and Technical Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that reducing carbon emissions does not mean completely eliminating fossil energy such as coal and oil, but striving to achieve the recycling of carbon resources.
In the past, carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology was the main way to reduce carbon emissions, but now the captured carbon dioxide can be recycled and reused, such as by combining it with hydrogen to produce methanol, so that it can be returned to the material and energy cycle, Liu said.
Chen Xi, director of the Center for Geoengineering at Columbia University and a tenured professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering, believes that the development of distributed carbon capture technology to capture carbon dioxide directly in the air can revitalize the downstream carbon utilization industry chain. "Distributed air capture can enable all kinds of capital, investment funds, and markets to be more involved in air capture, and can be closely connected through 'C' and 'U', and can make the 'U' industrial chain lively. Chen Xi said.
Prospective Economist APP Information Group
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