RCI’s position paper: “Comprehensive carbon management“ (October 2023)

This position paper describes that our understanding that new thinking and terminology are required to achieve climate targets and secure a sustainable carbon supply

Comprehensive carbon management goes beyond CO₂ emissions, capture and long-term storage, to which it is often reduced to. It decouples the whole industry from fossil feedstock, eliminates the use of fossil carbon wherever possible and allocates renewable carbon (from biomass, CO₂ and recycling) as efficiently and effectively as possible where carbon use is unavoidable. The aim is to achieve the lowest possible CO₂ emissions, reducing the need for Carbon Dioxide Removal to achieve net zero, and to provide a secure supply of renewable carbon to all dependent industries such as chemicals and materials. Only when carbon is recognised as a raw material in carbon management strategies can truly sustainable carbon cycles be achieved. With a proper comprehensive carbon management, the carbon-reliant material and energy sectors will be defossilised and the remaining energy sector will be decarbonised. And only for the remaining share of truly unavoidable emissions, carbon dioxide removal and carbon capture and storage should come into play.

Authors

Christopher vom Berg, Michael Carus and Lara Dammer and RCI members

Date of publication

Oct 2023

Pages

3

Language

File type

PDF

Downloads

288