Technology

DACCS and BECCS

Direct Air Capture and Carbon Sequestration (DACCS) and Bio Energy with Carbon Capture and Sequestration (BECCS) are both currently available as technologies to pull carbon out of the atmosphere.

DACCS simply pulls carbon dioxide directly out of the atmosphere so that it can be stored underground in appropriate geologic formations. BECCS produces energy from biofuels. The feed crops (specific grasses or, sometimes, trees) pull CO2 out of the atmosphere. The BECCS process either burns that fuel directly for energy or produces a fuel, while separating out the carbon dioxide emitted during the process for sequestration. The overall process removes CO2 from the atmosphere.

Both of these approaches have challenges and downsides. For example, each requires energy to implement (although both are net carbon negative). Both require water. The carbon pulled from the atmosphere must be transported from the facility to a location with an appropriate geology for sequestering and storing carbon dioxide in the ground, which in turn requires (potentially quite long) pipelines. Finally, there is currently no robust market whereby companies operating these facilities can make money doing it.