Africa’s first carbon-removal plant stokes questions about responsible climate solutions (cnbc.com)
A joint venture between the Swiss business Climeworks
and the Kenyan company Great Carbon Valley has been announced in order to
construct a direct air capture facility in Kenya that has the potential to
remove up to 1 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually. The
facility is anticipated to serve as a launching pad for the development of a
new, green economy in Africa as the globe prepares to invest trillions of
dollars in climate-related projects over the next few years. Direct-air capture
is a rather energy-intensive method of storing carbon dioxide underground by
sucking it up from the atmosphere.
Some climate scientists have attacked the idea, saying
it is a risky diversion from the one real way to combat climate change:
reducing greenhouse gas emissions by switching en masse away from fossil fuels.
Others claim that a multifaceted strategy to reduce global warming must include
direct air capture.
The disproportionate effects of climate change on
African countries that have made small contributions to global greenhouse gas
emissions, such as excessive drought and flooding, strengthen the case for
investment in Africa. The plant will be constructed in the Great Rift Valley,
an intercontinental depression rich in deep basalt rocks that stretches across
Kenya from Tanzania to Ethiopia, and is anticipated to be finished by 2028.
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