<div dir="ltr"><span lang="en-US">"Even if the world rapidly ramps up climate action, most experts agree </span><span lang="en-US">that </span><span lang="en-US">cutting emissions </span><span lang="en-GB">is</span><span lang="en-US"> no longer enough to avert disaster</span><span lang="en-GB">. W</span><span lang="en-US">e also need to invest in pull</span><span lang="en-GB">ing</span><span lang="en-US"> CO2 out of the atmosphere,</span><span lang="en-GB"> and t</span><span lang="en-US">hat effort just got a major boost after </span><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/elon-musk-offer-100-million-prize-best-carbon-capture-tech-rcna234"><span lang="en-US">Elon Musk announced a $100 </span><span lang="en-US">million</span></a><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/elon-musk-offer-100-million-prize-best-carbon-capture-tech-rcna234"><span lang="en-US"> prize</span></a><span lang="en-US"> for the </span><span lang="en-GB">technology.</span>
<p lang="en-GB" align="left"><span lang="en-GB">For years, talk of technological solutions to directly <a href="https://singularityhub.com/2021/01/28/scientists-want-to-fight-climate-change-by-spraying-dust-into-space-to-block-the-sun/">counteract global warming</a>, known as <a href="https://singularityhub.com/2019/02/03/will-these-massive-geoengineering-projects-fix-the-earth-or-break-it-more/">geoengineering</a>, were taboo among climate scientists. The topic was seen as </span><a href="https://slate.com/technology/2016/01/geoengineering-might-give-people-an-excuse-to-ignore-climate-changes-causes.html"><span lang="en-GB">a “moral hazard”</span></a><span lang="en-GB"> because it was thought that the promise of a technical fix for </span><span lang="en-GB">global warming </span><span lang="en-GB">could distract from efforts to reduce CO2 emissions.</span></p>
<p lang="en-GB" align="left"><span lang="en-GB">But the sluggish global response to climate change has forced a recalculation. Even the </span>Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change<span lang="en-GB"> now estimates that we will need to be pulling somewhere in the range of </span><a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/"><span lang="en-GB">three</span><span lang="en-GB"> to </span><span lang="en-GB">seven</span></a><a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/"><span lang="en-GB"> gigatons of CO2</span></a><span lang="en-GB"> out of the atmosphere every year by 2050, and up to 15 gigatons by the end of the century if we want to meet the goal of</span> limit<span lang="en-GB">ing</span> warming to 1.5° C."</p><p lang="en-GB" align="left"><a href="https://singularityhub.com/2021/02/01/elon-musks-100-million-push-for-carbon-capture/">https://singularityhub.com/2021/02/01/elon-musks-100-million-push-for-carbon-capture/</a></p>

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