oa Carbon emission: A global challenge that requires global solutions

The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere keeps increasing, relentlessly approaching the critical threshold identified as a point of no return for global warming. Recent research on carbon sequestration revealed that emission reduction targets would be hard to achieve with a single solution, namely underground storage, since a great deal of issues are still outstanding. To name but a few of these, one can cite a legal framework, international cooperation and availability of underground storage sites of sufficient quality and capacity. The nature of the outstanding issues is truly global, requiring a global approach for carbon management. Work supported by QNRF addressed important aspects of carbon management and constitutes the basis for the work presented herein. The objectives of this work include a balanced analysis of CO2 mitigation methods currently being tested or still under development, and the best way forward to break the cycle of undecisiveness currently being adopetd by most nations. The topics covered include carbon capture, underground storage in both depleted reservoirs and saline aquifers, carbon conversion, energy efficiency and development of carbon sinks on a global scale. The work has shown so far that the bulk of man made carbon emissions arise from combustion processes, essentially power generation using fossil fuels, and this is relatively well documented by the international energy agency compared to other sources of emissions. The cost of capturing combustion CO2 constitutes the bulk of the composite cost of carbon capture, storage and utilization (CCSU). Once CO2 is captured, it has to be disposed of where facilities are available. In the absence of suitable storage sites, other forms of carbon emission reduction have been identified and would include energy efficiency, carbon conversion and mandatory carbon sinks. The work has shown that it is practically impossible to expect all nations emitting CO2 to employ CCS only. The work achieved is of great significance in highlithing the complexity of carbon management on a global scale and offers alternatives that are both technically feasible and economically balanced.