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Climate change, specifically global warming, has been associated with increases in atmospheric CO₂ levels. Fixation of this airborne carbon dioxide and subsequent removal from the atmosphere is possible, though impractical due to little or no economic incentive. Hepburn et al. counter this position with viable utilization of captured CO₂ that yield decent economic return. Some of these utilities include chemicals (methanol, urea, plastics), fuels (methanol/methane), microalgae products (biofuels, biomass, aquaculture feed), and concrete and various building materials¹. In addition to these ventures, Hepburn et al. also lay out the probability of re-release of carbon dioxide from these various applications¹.

(1) Hepburn, C., Adlen, E., Beddington, J. et al. The technological and economic prospects for CO₂ utilization and removal. Nature 575, 87–97 (2019) doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1681-6