Project Gaia: A Roadmap to Climate Change Stabilization and Reversal

So, just for the record here is a plan to not only stabilize but reverse climate change over the next fifty years. Pie in the sky? Very likely given the current global geo-political situation and the dominance of corporates and fossil fuel interests, but still we have to start somewhere! The choice that faces us is a little stark but is solvable with a united approach and goodwill. You can download a copy of this Climate article at the bottom- Kevin Parker Site Publisher

Executive Summary

Imagining a moment of unprecedented global unity, this report presents a comprehensive, 50-year strategic plan to first stabilize and then reverse anthropogenic climate change. The mandate is to align global action with the scientific consensus required to limit warming to 1.5°C, thereby averting the most catastrophic and irreversible impacts on ecosystems, human health, and the global economy.¹ This plan presupposes the existence of the political will and international cooperation necessary for its implementation, focusing instead on the techno-economic, logistical, and strategic architecture of this monumental undertaking.

The starting point for this global mobilization is stark. In 2023, global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reached a new record of 57.1 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e), continuing an upward trajectory that is in direct opposition to the urgent need for radical, immediate reductions.³ The energy sector, primarily from the combustion of fossil fuels for electricity and heat, remains the largest single contributor to this total, followed by industry, agriculture, and transport, which collectively form the backbone of the modern global economy.³ The eight largest emitters—China, the United States, India, the European Union, Russia, Indonesia, Brazil, and Japan—account for over two-thirds of all GHG emissions, underscoring the critical importance of their leadership in this transition.⁴

The pathway to climate restoration is structured in five distinct, decade-long phases, each with specific objectives and benchmarks that build upon the last. This phased approach ensures a managed, strategic transition that prioritizes immediate action while allowing for the maturation and deployment of next-generation technologies.

The Great Deceleration (Years 1-10): The immediate and paramount objective is to halt the growth of emissions within the first five years and subsequently achieve a reduction of approximately 43% from 2019 levels by the end of the decade. This aligns with the stringent near-term targets set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for a pathway with no or limited temperature overshoot.⁶
The Transformation (Years 11-20): This phase focuses on deep, systemic decarbonization across all sectors of the economy, moving beyond the deployment of mature solutions to a full-scale overhaul of global energy and industrial systems, targeting a GHG emissions reduction of over 70% from baseline levels.
The Net-Zero Pivot (Years 21-30): The central goal of this decade is to achieve global net-zero CO2 emissions by approximately Year 26 (circa 2050), the point at which the amount of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere is balanced by the amount removed.¹
The Drawdown Era (Years 31-40): With net-zero achieved, the global focus shifts to establishing and sustaining a state of net-negative emissions, where more greenhouse gases are removed from the atmosphere than are emitted each year, thereby actively reducing the legacy concentration of atmospheric CO2.
Planetary Stewardship (Years 41-50): The final phase institutionalizes the systems and governance required to maintain a stable climate, manage the global carbon cycle for the long term, and adapt to the climate changes that have been locked in by historical emissions.

This strategy is built upon four interconnected pillars of action. The first is a complete energy system transformation, phasing out all unabated fossil fuels and replacing them with a global power system based on renewable energy. The second is the full decarbonization of industry and transport, tackling the hard-to-abate sectors through electrification, green hydrogen, sustainable fuels, and carbon capture. The third pillar is a global shift to regenerative land use, which involves halting and reversing deforestation and transforming global agriculture into a net carbon sink. The fourth and final pillar, essential for the reversal phase, is the large-scale deployment of a diverse and rigorously governed portfolio of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) technologies.

The financial scale of this global mobilization is staggering. It requires an average annual investment of approximately $3.5 trillion, with investment levels peaking at over $4 trillion per year in the 2030s and 2040s. This culminates in a total capital investment of approximately $110 trillion by mid-century.⁹ This represents a minimum six-fold increase in current mitigation investment and necessitates a fundamental reform of the global financial architecture to unlock and direct public and private capital at the required scale and pace.¹⁰ While immense, this investment is not a cost but a strategic reallocation of capital away from volatile and destructive fossil fuels toward a secure, sustainable, and resilient global economy.

Table 1: Global GHG Emissions Baseline and 50-Year Reduction Trajectory

Phase & Benchmark	Timeframe	Target Global GHG Emissions (GtCO2e/year)	Key Scientific Rationale and Milestones
Baseline	Year 0	57.1 (2023 data)³	Sectoral Breakdown: Power (15.1), Transport (8.4), Industry (6.5), Agriculture (6.5), Other (21.6).³ This is the starting point for the global effort.
The Great Deceleration	Year 10	~30	~45% reduction from 2010 levels. Required to align with IPCC 1.5°C no/low overshoot pathways. Global emissions must peak before Year 5.¹
The Transformation	Year 20	~15	>70% reduction from baseline. Deep decarbonization of power and initial transition of hard-to-abate sectors.
The Net-Zero Pivot	Year 30	~0 (Net-Zero GHG)	Net-Zero CO2 achieved by Year 26 (c. 2050). Residual non-CO2 emissions (e.g., from agriculture) are balanced by scaled-up CDR.⁷
The Drawdown Era	Year 40	Net-Negative: −5	Sustained net-negative emissions. Actively reducing atmospheric CO2 concentration. CDR deployment exceeds residual emissions.
Planetary Stewardship	Year 50	Net-Negative: −10	Mature CDR capacity. Reaching the 7–9 GtCO2/year removal rate deemed necessary by 2050 in Paris Agreement-aligned pathways.¹²

Section 1: The Foundational Decade (Years 1-10): The Great Deceleration

Objective: To halt the relentless growth of global greenhouse gas emissions and initiate a rapid, decisive decline.

The scientific consensus is unequivocal: to keep the 1.5°C goal within reach, global emissions must peak before Year 5 (c. 2025) and be reduced by approximately 43% by Year 10 (c. 2030) relative to 2019 levels.⁶ This is the “now or never” decade, a period of emergency action focused on deploying existing, mature, and scalable technologies while simultaneously erecting the global policy and financial architecture for the deeper transformations to come. The IPCC has stated with very high confidence that any further delay in concerted global action will miss a “brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.”⁸ Failure to meet these near-term targets will make limiting warming to 1.5°C without a substantial and dangerous temperature overshoot a physical impossibility.⁷

1.1. Global Policy and Financial Architecture

The foundation of this entire endeavor is a globally harmonized policy and financial framework that eliminates market distortions favoring fossil fuels and mobilizes capital for clean solutions at an unprecedented scale.

Establishment of a Global Climate Authority (GCA): A unified international body is established with a clear mandate to coordinate the global transition. The GCA will be responsible for overseeing the implementation of this roadmap, managing the allocation of international climate finance, developing and enforcing standards for emissions accounting and carbon removal verification, and ensuring an equitable transition that supports developing nations.
Implementation of a Global Carbon Price: A cornerstone policy is the immediate implementation of a unified, progressively rising price on carbon across all sectors and nations. This creates a powerful, market-based incentive for emissions reduction, making low-carbon technologies and practices economically advantageous and driving innovation across the entire global economy.
Elimination of Fossil Fuel Subsidies: All direct and indirect subsidies for the production and consumption of fossil fuels are eliminated worldwide within the first two years. These subsidies represent a massive misallocation of public funds that actively undermines climate goals, reaching a record of over $1 trillion in 2022 and remaining elevated at $620 billion in 2023 for consumption subsidies alone.¹⁴ When implicit subsidies reflecting environmental damages are included, the total reached $7 trillion in 2022.¹¹ Redirecting these funds will unlock hundreds of billions of dollars annually for investment in the clean energy transition.
Mobilization of Capital: The GCA, in partnership with multilateral development banks, national governments, and private financial institutions, will establish mechanisms to deploy the required ~$3.5 trillion in annual investment.⁹ This requires a minimum six-fold increase in current mitigation investment and a fundamental reform of the global financial architecture to de-risk private investment in clean energy projects, particularly in the Global South.¹⁰

A central strategic challenge of this foundational decade is to ensure that the global transition is just and equitable. The primary barrier to achieving the required financial flows is not an absolute lack of capital, but a misaligned and inequitable global financial architecture. Current data reveals a stark divergence in emissions trajectories: advanced economies like the EU and the US are beginning to demonstrate an absolute decoupling of economic growth from emissions, whereas emissions are rising fastest in emerging economies like India and China, driven by the energy demand required for economic development and poverty alleviation.⁴ A plan predicated on global unity cannot succeed if it imposes austerity or curtails the legitimate development aspirations of the Global South.

Therefore, the transition must be engineered to enable these nations to leapfrog the carbon-intensive development path followed by industrialized countries. This transforms the financial mobilization from a matter of “aid” to a core strategic investment in a unified global infrastructure project. A significant portion of the mobilized capital must be directed towards building clean energy systems, sustainable infrastructure, and green industries in developing nations, allowing them to achieve higher living standards without locking in decades of future emissions.

1.2. Energy Sector Pivot: The “Tripling Renewables” Imperative

The energy sector is the largest source of global emissions, and its rapid transformation is the single most important action of the first decade.³ The strategy is to overwhelm the existing fossil fuel-based system with clean, low-cost alternatives. This requires an integrated approach, as the key pillars of the energy pivot—renewables, grids, and storage—are a tightly coupled technical system where failure in one component leads to failure of the whole.

Massive Deployment of Solar and Wind: A global emergency program is launched to triple renewable energy capacity by Year 10, in line with the goal set at COP28 to reach at least 11,000 GW by 2030.¹³ This objective is technologically and economically feasible. Solar PV and onshore wind are now the most affordable sources of new electricity generation in most parts of the world, with global weighted average levelized costs of electricity (LCOE) of $0.043/kWh and $0.034/kWh, respectively, in 2024.¹⁸ The world has demonstrated the ability to install record capacity, adding 582 GW of new renewables in 2024 alone.¹⁶ This program will accelerate that pace through coordinated global procurement, streamlined permitting, and targeted investment.
Initiation of Global Coal Phase-Out: A binding global treaty is enacted to immediately cease the construction of all new unabated coal-fired power plants. Simultaneously, a managed phase-out of the existing global fleet begins, with a target for all coal plants in advanced economies to be retired by Year 10, and globally by Year 15. This is non-negotiable, as coal remains the single largest source of electricity generation and carbon emissions.¹⁷
Grid Modernization and Interconnection: The rapid influx of variable renewables necessitates a parallel, massive investment in upgrading and modernizing national electricity grids. This includes the deployment of smart grid technologies, demand-side management programs, and the construction of high-voltage transnational supergrids. Analysis indicates that annual global investment in grid infrastructure must nearly double to $600 billion by 2030 to support the renewables build-out.¹³ These interconnections are vital for balancing supply and demand across large geographical areas, reducing energy curtailment, enhancing overall system reliability, and lowering costs.²¹
Energy Efficiency as the “First Fuel”: A global push for radical energy efficiency is implemented. This involves setting stringent, mandatory standards for energy performance in all new buildings, appliances, and industrial equipment. Retrofitting existing building stock for improved insulation and energy use is also prioritized. Maximizing energy efficiency is the cheapest and fastest way to reduce emissions, and it critically serves to curb the growth in overall energy demand that has historically driven emissions increases.⁵

While the long-term focus of climate action is rightly on carbon dioxide, a parallel and immediate effort must be directed at potent, shorter-lived greenhouse gases, particularly methane (CH4). Methane is responsible for a significant portion of near-term warming, and the IPCC has identified that reducing global methane emissions by approximately one-third by 2030 is a required component of a 1.5°C pathway.⁸ Major sources of anthropogenic methane include fugitive emissions from oil and gas infrastructure, agriculture (livestock and rice cultivation), and waste decomposition.⁵ An aggressive, globally coordinated program to plug methane leaks from all existing oil and gas wells, pipelines, and processing facilities—conducted as part of the fossil fuel phase-out—and to deploy best practices in agriculture and waste management offers a powerful opportunity for “quick wins.” Reducing methane emissions provides a rapid, tangible reduction in the rate of warming within this first critical decade, buying invaluable time for the larger, more complex CO2-focused energy transition to take full effect.

1.3. Transport and Industry: Electrify and Enhance Efficiency

The initial focus for the transport and industrial sectors is on deploying readily available solutions, reflecting a strategic approach that acknowledges the different stages of technological maturity across sectors. While passenger vehicles are ready for mass deployment, heavy transport and industry require foundational work to prepare for a deeper transformation in the next decade.

Passenger Vehicle Electrification: A global mandate is established requiring 100% of all new passenger cars and light-duty vehicle sales to be electric by Year 10. This rapid transition is supported by a massive, coordinated build-out of public charging infrastructure. The urgency of this build-out is underscored by the profound global imbalance in current infrastructure; China accounts for approximately 65% of the global stock of public chargers, while other regions lag significantly.²⁴ The plan includes harmonizing charging standards and providing public funding to ensure ubiquitous and reliable charging access, eliminating range anxiety as a barrier to adoption.²⁵
Early-Stage Decarbonization of Heavy Transport: For the hard-to-abate sectors of aviation and shipping, the first decade is about laying the groundwork for the deeper transformation to follow. This involves mandating significant operational efficiency improvements (e.g., optimized flight paths, slow steaming for ships) and launching large-scale, publicly funded pilot programs for Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs) and alternative marine fuels like green ammonia and methanol. These programs are essential to de-risk the technologies, build initial supply chains, and prepare for mandated adoption in the next decade.²⁷
Industrial Efficiency Mandates: All new and existing industrial facilities, particularly in the high-emitting sectors of steel, cement, and chemicals, are required to adopt the Best Available Technology (BAT) for energy efficiency. This sector accounts for approximately a quarter of global emissions, and while breakthrough technologies are needed for full decarbonization, significant near-term reductions can be achieved by optimizing current processes and minimizing waste.⁸

1.4. Land Use and Agriculture: Halting the Bleed and Seeding the Sink

The land sector is unique in that it is both a major source of emissions and a potential massive sink. The strategic approach for the first decade applies a triage model: first, immediately stop the most significant source of emissions, and second, begin the long-term project of enhancing the land’s capacity to absorb carbon.

Global Moratorium on Deforestation: A legally binding and rigorously enforced global moratorium on the clearing of all primary and mature secondary forests is implemented in Year 1. This is a climate emergency measure, as the Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector contributes about 23% of total anthropogenic GHG emissions, with deforestation being a primary driver.³¹ Halting deforestation alone has the potential to reduce annual emissions by as much as 5.8 GtCO2e.³³ The UNFCCC’s REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) framework provides the established institutional basis for this action, supported by substantial international finance and satellite-based monitoring.³⁴
Launch of Global Reforestation Initiative: A massive, scientifically-guided global reforestation and afforestation program is launched. This initiative will be guided by ecological principles, prioritizing the restoration of native ecosystems and avoiding monoculture plantations that can harm biodiversity.³⁶ The initial goal is to align with international commitments to restore 350 million hectares of degraded land, which has the potential to sequester vast amounts of carbon over the coming decades.³⁸
Incentivizing Regenerative Agriculture: A global framework of subsidies, technical assistance, and market incentives is established to drive a rapid, worldwide transition from conventional industrial agriculture to regenerative practices. These practices—which include no-till farming, the use of cover crops, crop rotation, and integrated livestock management—focus on rebuilding soil organic matter.⁴⁰ This process begins the critical transformation of global agricultural soils from a net source of carbon into a significant and growing carbon sink, while also enhancing food security and resilience.⁴³

Section 2: The Transformation Decade (Years 11-20): System-Wide Overhaul

Objective: To build upon the foundational actions of the first decade and execute a fundamental re-engineering of the global economy’s core systems.

This phase moves beyond the deployment of readily available technologies to the commercial-scale rollout of next-generation solutions for the hardest-to-abate sectors. The goal is to achieve a reduction in GHG emissions exceeding 70% from baseline levels by Year 20, setting the stage for the final push to net-zero.

2.1. The Fully Renewable Power System

By the end of this decade, the global electricity system will be predominantly powered by renewable sources, providing clean, reliable, and low-cost energy for all other sectors to electrify.

Global Grid Integration: The build-out of a globally interconnected, smart, high-voltage electricity grid is completed. This network allows for the seamless transmission of renewable energy from regions of high generation (e.g., solar power from deserts, wind from offshore) to centers of high demand, balancing variability across continents and time zones. This fulfills the vision outlined by energy analysts, which estimates that 90% of the world’s electricity can and should come from renewable sources by 2050.¹⁹
Energy Storage at Scale: To ensure a firm, 24/7 power supply from intermittent sources like wind and solar, a diverse portfolio of energy storage technologies is deployed at a massive scale. This includes the widespread installation of utility-scale lithium-ion battery systems, whose costs have plummeted by over 93% since 2010, making them highly competitive.²⁰ This is complemented by the expansion of pumped-hydro storage in suitable geographies and the use of green hydrogen as a medium for long-duration storage, ensuring grid stability through seasonal variations.²¹
Green Hydrogen Economy: The production of green hydrogen—produced via electrolysis powered exclusively by renewable electricity—is scaled up from pilot projects to a major industrial sector. Green hydrogen becomes a primary clean energy carrier, providing high-temperature heat for industry, fuel for long-haul transport, and a feedstock for chemical production, serving all critical applications that cannot be efficiently electrified directly.¹⁵

The sheer scale of this transformation introduces a significant second-order challenge: a potential crisis of resource scarcity. A plan to solve the carbon crisis cannot be allowed to create a new, equally damaging resource crisis. The global build-out of solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, and batteries will create an unprecedented demand for critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, and rare earth elements. An electric car, for instance, requires six times the mineral inputs of a conventional vehicle.²² Simultaneously, the plan’s reliance on large-scale bioenergy (for BECCS) and afforestation programs creates immense pressure on land and freshwater resources, potentially competing with food production and biodiversity conservation.⁴⁴

Therefore, the global strategy must evolve to incorporate three critical components. First, a massive global investment in establishing a circular economy for critical minerals, focusing on urban mining (recovering materials from end-of-life products) and developing high-efficiency recycling infrastructure. Second, a concerted R&D push to develop next-generation clean technologies that are less resource-intensive, such as sodium-ion batteries or direct-drive wind turbines that reduce the need for rare earth magnets. Third, the GCA must implement a sophisticated global land-use planning and governance framework. This system will use advanced satellite monitoring and ecological modeling to optimize the allocation of land between food production, bioenergy cultivation, ecosystem restoration, and conservation, ensuring that the deployment of land-based climate solutions does not result in unintended negative consequences for food security or biodiversity.

2.2. Decarbonizing Heavy Industry: The Hydrogen and CCUS Nexus

This decade marks the commercial-scale transition of heavy industry from fossil fuel-based processes to clean production methods. A critical strategic choice within this transition is to bypass transitional fuels like “blue” hydrogen, which is produced from natural gas with carbon capture. This approach carries significant risks of upstream methane leakage and stranded fossil fuel assets. In a scenario of total global commitment, the most effective path is to mandate that all new hydrogen production must be “green”—derived from renewables via electrolysis—or meet a rigorously enforced standard for lifecycle greenhouse gas intensity, ensuring only the cleanest forms are deployed.

Green Steel and Cement: The global steel industry is mandated to transition to near-zero emission production pathways. The primary routes are Hydrogen-based Direct Reduced Iron (H-DRI), where green hydrogen replaces coking coal as the reducing agent, and the expansion of Electric Arc Furnaces powered by 100% renewable electricity to recycle scrap steel.²⁶ For the cement industry, which has significant and unavoidable process emissions from the calcination of limestone, the strategy is twofold. First, mandating the maximum possible reduction in the clinker-to-cement ratio by using supplementary cementitious materials. Second, deploying Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) technology at all cement plants to capture the remaining process emissions. Levers like energy efficiency alone are insufficient to achieve the required deep decarbonization in this sector.²⁸
Chemicals and Aluminum: The chemical industry transitions to using green hydrogen as a primary feedstock, replacing natural gas, and adopts electrified processes like high-temperature heat pumps for process heat.¹⁵ The aluminum industry’s decarbonization is achieved through a three-pronged approach: powering all smelters with 100% decarbonized electricity, deploying breakthrough inert anode technology which emits oxygen instead of CO2 during the smelting process, and maximizing the use of recycled aluminum through the creation of an advanced, globally integrated scrap sorting and processing system.²⁹
CCUS Infrastructure: To support the decarbonization of cement and other industries with unavoidable process emissions, a network of regional and transnational CO2 pipeline and geological storage infrastructure is constructed. This infrastructure functions as a public utility, transporting captured CO2 from industrial hubs to carefully selected and monitored deep saline aquifers or depleted oil and gas fields for permanent sequestration.³⁰

2.3. Revolutionizing Long-Haul Transport

The technologies piloted in the first decade are now scaled to fully decarbonize long-haul aviation, shipping, and road freight.

Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs) Mandate: Building on the initial pilot programs, a global blending mandate for SAFs is implemented, requiring a rapid scale-up to reach 50% of all aviation fuel consumption by Year 20. This triggers massive investment in the two primary SAF production pathways: advanced biofuels derived from agricultural waste, forestry residues, and non-food energy crops, and synthetic e-fuels produced by combining green hydrogen with captured carbon dioxide. This dual-track approach ensures sufficient volume while promoting innovation in the most sustainable fuel types.³¹
Zero-Emission Shipping Corridors: “Green corridors” are established on all major international shipping routes. Within these corridors, regulations mandate that all vessels must use zero-emission fuels. The primary options are green ammonia and green methanol, both derived from green hydrogen.³² This policy drives a rapid fleet turnover to new vessel designs and catalyzes the construction of bunkering infrastructure for these new fuels at major ports worldwide. While both fuels have challenges related to energy density and safe handling, they represent the most viable pathways for decarbonizing a sector that accounts for nearly 3% of global emissions.³³
Heavy-Duty Road Transport: The transition of the global heavy-duty trucking fleet is completed. Short- and medium-haul routes are dominated by battery-electric trucks, while long-haul freight relies on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. This is supported by a comprehensive, continent-spanning network of public megawatt charging stations and high-capacity hydrogen refueling depots along all major freight arteries.²⁷

2.4. Initializing the Carbon Removal Industry

With emissions reductions well underway, this decade sees the birth of the technological carbon removal industry, with the goal of driving down costs and preparing for the gigatonne-scale deployment required in the next phase.

First-Generation DACCS and BECCS: The GCA provides substantial subsidies and offtake agreements to support the construction and operation of the first wave of large-scale Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS) and Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) facilities. The primary objective is not yet mass carbon removal, but rather to accelerate the technologies down the steep learning curve. This process of learning-by-doing is essential to reduce the currently high costs (from $600-$1,000 per ton of CO2) to the target of below $200 per ton, while also resolving operational challenges and optimizing supply chains.³⁴
Enhanced Weathering and OAE Pilots: Building on initial research, large-scale, heavily instrumented and monitored pilot projects for ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) and enhanced weathering are launched in diverse marine and terrestrial environments. The goal of these multi-year pilots is to rigorously verify carbon removal efficacy, quantify the energy and resource requirements, and, most critically, assess any potential ecological side effects before any decision is made on wider, global-scale deployment.³⁵

Table 2: Sectoral Decarbonization Technology Roadmap

Sector / Technology	Decade 1 (Yrs 1-10)	Decade 2 (Yrs 11-20)	Decade 3 (Yrs 21-30)	Decade 4 (Yrs 31-40)	Decade 5 (Yrs 41-50)
POWER
Solar PV & Onshore Wind	Emergency Scale-Up	Full Scale / Mature	Mature / Optimization	Mature / Replacement	Mature / Replacement
Offshore Wind	Commercial Scale-Up	Full Scale	Mature	Mature	Mature
Battery Storage	Commercial Scale-Up	Full Scale	Mature / Next-Gen Chemistries	Mature	Mature
Green Hydrogen (Power)	Pilot / Demonstration	Commercial Scale-Up	Full Scale (Grid Balancing)	Mature	Mature
TRANSPORT
Passenger EVs	Full Scale Adoption	Mature / V2G Integration	Mature	Mature	Mature
Heavy-Duty Electric/H2 Trucks	Commercial Scale-Up	Full Scale Adoption	Mature	Mature	Mature
Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF)	Pilot / Early Commercial	Commercial Scale-Up	Full Scale	Mature	Mature
Green Ammonia/Methanol (Shipping)	Pilot / Demonstration	Commercial Scale-Up	Full Scale	Mature	Mature
INDUSTRY
Green Hydrogen (Feedstock/Heat)	Pilot / Demonstration	Commercial Scale-Up	Full Scale	Mature	Mature
H-DRI Steel	Demonstration	Commercial Scale-Up	Full Scale	Mature	Mature
CCUS (Cement/Chemicals)	Demonstration	Commercial Scale-Up	Full Scale	Mature	Mature
Inert Anode (Aluminum)	R&D / Pilot	Commercial Scale-Up	Full Scale	Mature	Mature
LAND & CDR
Regenerative Agriculture	Early Adoption	Widespread Adoption	Full Scale / Mature	Mature / Optimization	Mature
Afforestation/Reforestation	Large-Scale Deployment	Peak Sequestration	Mature / Stewardship	Stewardship	Stewardship
BECCS	R&D / Pilot	First-Gen Deployment	Commercial Scale-Up	Full Scale	Mature / Optimization
DACCS	R&D / Pilot	First-Gen Deployment	Commercial Scale-Up	Full Scale	Mature / Optimization
OAE / Enhanced Weathering	R&D / Large Pilots	Monitored Deployment	Strategic Deployment	Strategic Deployment	Mature

Section 3: The Net-Zero Pivot (Years 21-30): Achieving Global Carbon Neutrality

Objective: To eliminate the final, most persistent sources of greenhouse gas emissions and achieve the critical milestone of global net-zero CO2 emissions by approximately Year 26 (c. 2050).

This is the decade where the global carbon budget is balanced: a scaled-up and diverse portfolio of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) technologies becomes fully operational, removing enough CO2 from the atmosphere to counteract the small stream of remaining, truly unavoidable emissions.

3.1. Tackling Residual Emissions

By this phase, the “low-hanging fruit” of decarbonization has been harvested. The focus now shifts to the most technically challenging and economically stubborn emissions sources. A critical principle guiding this final push to zero is the prioritization of gross emissions reductions over an over-reliance on removals. The concept of “net-zero” can be perilous if it is misinterpreted as a license to continue emitting. A future that achieves a net balance with high residual emissions being offset by an equally high volume of CDR is far riskier, more resource-intensive, and less sustainable than a future that focuses on eliminating almost all emissions at their source.³⁶ Therefore, the GCA’s governing framework must explicitly mandate the pursuit of maximum technologically feasible abatement. CDR must be reserved for two specific purposes only: counteracting the truly unavoidable residual emissions from sectors like agriculture, and enabling the net-negative drawdown of historical emissions in the subsequent decades. This principle is vital to prevent “mitigation deterrence,” a moral hazard where the promise of future technological removal is used as a justification to delay or avoid the difficult but necessary work of emissions abatement today.³⁷

Final Industrial Transition: The conversion of the global industrial base to near-zero emission processes is completed. The green hydrogen economy reaches full maturity, providing a reliable and cost-competitive supply of clean fuel and feedstock for all remaining steel, cement, and chemical facilities.¹⁵ CCUS infrastructure is now a standard, integrated utility for industrial clusters, capturing process emissions that cannot be eliminated through other means.
Fully Sustainable Long-Haul Transport: The global aviation and shipping fleets achieve near-100% utilization of sustainable fuels. A fully scaled global production and distribution network ensures the availability of SAFs, green ammonia, and green methanol at all major airports and seaports, making fossil-based jet fuel and bunker oil obsolete.³⁸
Agricultural Transformation: While some emissions from agriculture, particularly nitrous oxide (N2O) from soils and methane (CH4) from livestock, are biologically unavoidable, this decade sees the global implementation of advanced practices to minimize them. This includes widespread use of precision agriculture to optimize fertilizer use, novel feed additives for livestock to reduce enteric fermentation, and alternative wetting-and-drying techniques for rice cultivation.⁵

3.2. Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) at Scale

The CDR industry, nurtured through the previous decade’s pilots and first-generation deployments, now reaches full industrial scale, becoming a cornerstone of the global climate strategy.

Gigatonne-Scale CDR Deployment: The global portfolio of CDR activities is scaled to remove several gigatonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere annually. This capacity is sufficient to balance the remaining residual GHG emissions, allowing the world to reach the net-zero target, and to begin the transition to a net-negative emissions trajectory.¹²
Optimizing the CDR Portfolio: Based on the extensive data gathered from the pilot programs and early deployments of the second decade, the GCA directs investment towards an optimized and diversified portfolio of CDR methods. This strategic deployment is designed to balance cost, scalability, permanence of storage, and co-benefits. The likely portfolio will include:
- Nature-Based Solutions: Mature afforestation, reforestation, and soil carbon sequestration programs are now operating at their maximum sustainable capacity. The focus shifts from expansion to long-term management and protection.⁴³
- High-Permanence Technologies: DACCS and BECCS are now mature technologies, deployed en masse in regions with abundant renewable energy resources and favorable geology for permanent CO2 storage.³⁹
- Emerging Ocean-Based Solutions: If the large-scale pilots of the previous decade have proven them to be safe, effective, and monitorable, wider implementation of Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement or other marine CDR techniques may begin, adding another powerful tool to the portfolio.⁴⁰

3.3. Global Governance and Verification

With CDR operating at a scale that directly impacts the global carbon cycle, a robust, transparent, and legally binding international governance framework is absolutely essential.

Mature CDR Governance Framework: The GCA finalizes and implements a comprehensive international treaty governing all CDR activities. This framework is built on several key pillars:
- Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV): A single, rigorous global standard for MRV is enforced for every ton of CO2 claimed to be removed and stored. This system relies on a combination of in-situ measurements, remote sensing, and independent, third-party audits to ensure the integrity of the global carbon accounting system.⁴¹
- Permanence and Liability: The framework establishes clear, legally binding definitions for the permanence of carbon storage across different methods. It also creates a liability mechanism, such as a global insurance pool or buffer credits, to account for any future reversals of stored carbon—for example, from a forest fire releasing sequestered carbon or a leak from a geological storage site.⁴²
- Sustainability and Equity: The framework includes strong safeguards to prevent negative social and environmental impacts. This includes rigorous assessments to protect biodiversity, ensure food and water security, and uphold the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities in areas where CDR projects are deployed. The governance system is designed to ensure that the benefits and burdens of this new global industry are distributed equitably.³⁷

Table 3: Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) Portfolio Assessment

CDR Method	Cost (/tCO2)³⁴	Storage Permanence³⁹	Scalability (Potential GtCO2/yr)	Key Co-Benefits	Key Risks & Trade-offs	TRL
Afforestation/Reforestation	0−240	Decades to centuries	High	Biodiversity, soil health, water regulation	Land use competition, impermanence (fire, disease), albedo effects	9
Soil Carbon Sequestration	10−345	Decades to centuries	Medium	Improved soil fertility, water retention, food security	Reversibility, difficult to monitor, saturation	8-9
Biochar	45−100	Centuries to millennia	Medium	Soil amendment, waste reduction	Dust, energy source for production, feedstock limits	7-8
BECCS	100−300	10,000+ years	High	Produces low-carbon energy	Land/water competition, biodiversity loss, energy penalty	6-7
DACCS	100−300 (target)	10,000+ years	Very High	Location independent, small land footprint	High energy/water use, high current cost	6-7
Enhanced Weathering	50−200	10,000+ years	High	Reduces soil acidity, provides nutrients	Mining impacts, dust, ecosystem effects	4-6
Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement	50−500	10,000+ years	Very High	Counteracts ocean acidification	Marine ecosystem impacts, mining/transport emissions	2-4

Section 4: The Drawdown Era (Years 31-40): Entering Net-Negative Territory

Objective: To move beyond the static goal of net-zero and enter a dynamic phase of active climate restoration.

The global economy now operates on a net-negative emissions basis, consistently removing more greenhouse gases from the atmosphere than it emits. This initiates the centuries-long process of drawing down the concentration of historical CO2 and beginning the slow reversal of anthropogenic climate change.

4.1. CDR as a Global Climate Utility

The Carbon Dioxide Removal sector matures from a nascent, subsidized industry into a core component of the global infrastructure, akin to utilities for waste management or water treatment. A crucial evolution in the governance and financial mechanisms for CDR must occur in this era to ensure the long-term success of the climate reversal mission. The durability, or permanence, of carbon storage varies dramatically between methods—from decades for carbon stored in soils and forests, to over 10,000 years for carbon in deep geological formations.³⁶ A simple, single-price market for carbon removal would invariably favor the cheapest, least permanent options, creating a profound risk of investing trillions in temporary storage that is vulnerable to reversal.⁴³ To counter this, the GCA’s financial mechanisms must evolve to incorporate a “permanence premium,” creating a tiered market where more durable forms of carbon removal command a higher price that reflects their greater long-term value to climate restoration. This incentivizes a healthy, diversified portfolio, using nature-based solutions for their immediate scalability and co-benefits, while ensuring the core of the long-term drawdown effort is anchored by high-permanence, technological solutions.

Sustained Gigatonne Removal: The global CDR capacity is maintained and further optimized to achieve a sustained net removal of 5-10 GtCO2e annually. This rate is consistent with IPCC scenarios that show a requirement for 7–9 GtCO2 of removal per year by 2050 to meet the Paris Agreement goals.¹²
Cost and Efficiency Optimization: With mature technologies, optimized supply chains, and decades of operational experience, the primary focus of the CDR industry shifts to driving down costs and improving energy efficiency. A competitive global market for carbon removal, governed by the GCA, ensures that the most effective and sustainable methods are prioritized.
Integration with the Circular Economy: The concept of waste is further eliminated by deeply integrating CDR into a circular carbon economy. Carbon dioxide captured via DACCS is no longer viewed solely as a waste product for sequestration but as a valuable feedstock. It is used to produce carbon-neutral synthetic fuels for niche applications, for creating long-lived carbon-storing products like building materials and polymers, and for applications like enhancing greenhouse agriculture, closing industrial carbon loops.²⁸

4.2. Land and Ocean Stewardship

The management of the planet’s natural carbon sinks becomes a primary focus of global environmental policy.

Maximizing Nature-Based Sinks: The vast reforestation and soil regeneration projects initiated in the first decade now reach their peak carbon sequestration rates. The strategic focus shifts from expansion to long-term stewardship. This involves active, science-based forest management to enhance resilience to climate-related risks such as wildfire, drought, and pests, thereby ensuring the permanence of these vital carbon stocks.³⁶
Monitoring and Managing Ocean Carbon: A comprehensive global ocean monitoring system, using a network of autonomous sensors, satellites, and research vessels, is fully operational. This system continuously tracks the efficacy and ecological impacts of any deployed marine CDR methods, such as OAE. The data is used to adaptively manage these activities, ensuring the health and stability of marine ecosystems while maximizing their contribution to carbon removal.⁴⁴

4.3. Observing Climate System Response

This is the decade in which the first tangible results of the global effort become scientifically observable in the Earth’s climate system.

First Signs of Reversal: With over a decade of sustained net-negative emissions, global scientific bodies like the IPCC are able to detect the first statistically significant halt and subsequent slight decline in the atmospheric concentration of CO2. While global temperatures will continue to rise for some time due to thermal inertia in the oceans, this marks a monumental turning point: the moment humanity’s impact on atmospheric composition begins to reverse.
Adapting to Locked-in Warming: Despite the success in drawing down CO2, the world must intensify its efforts to adapt to the severe climate impacts that are already locked in from past emissions. Sea levels will continue to rise for centuries, and the frequency of extreme weather events will remain elevated.⁴⁵ Continued global investment in coastal protection, resilient infrastructure, and climate-smart agriculture is essential for safeguarding human well-being.¹

Table 4: Estimated Annual Investment for Climate Transition by Sector (Average, Years 1-30)

Sector	Sub-Sector	Average Annual Investment (USD Billions)
Power Sector	Total	~$2,400
	Zero-Carbon Power Generation	$1,300
	Power Networks (Grids)	$900
	Storage and Grid Flexibility	$200
Buildings	Total	~$500
	Retrofits	$230
	Heat Pumps	$130
	Renewable Heating	$140
Transport	Total	~$240
	Road Charging Infrastructure	$130
	Aviation (Sustainable Fuels)	$70
	Shipping (Sustainable Fuels)	$40
Industry	Total	~$70
	Chemicals	$40
	Steel	$10
	Cement	$10
	Aluminum	$10
Clean Hydrogen	Total	~$80
	Production	$40
	Transport and Storage	$40
Carbon Removal	Total	~$130
	Natural Climate Solutions (NCS)	$100
	Hybrid & Engineered Solutions	$30
GRAND TOTAL		~$3,550
Source: Adapted from Energy Transitions Commission estimates.⁹ Figures are illustrative annual averages over the primary transition period.

Section 5: The Climate-Stable Future (Years 41-50): Sustaining Planetary Stewardship

Objective: To transition from a crisis-response footing to a steady state of long-term planetary management.

This final phase of the 50-year plan establishes the enduring systems, technologies, and governance structures required to maintain a stable climate, actively manage the global carbon cycle, and ensure the resilience and prosperity of human civilization and the natural world for centuries to come. This end state is not a static return to a past condition. The successful execution of this plan marks the beginning of a new era of active, conscious, and permanent planetary management. The global infrastructure, scientific capacity, and governance frameworks built to solve the crisis must become enduring features of human civilization, representing the most profound shift in humanity’s role on Earth: from an unwitting and destructive geological force to a responsible and deliberate steward of the planetary system.

5.1. A Fully Decarbonized Global Economy

The global economy of Year 50 is fundamentally different from that of Year 0. It is larger, more prosperous, and more equitable, yet operates in harmony with planetary boundaries.

Energy Abundance: The world is powered by a superabundance of clean, virtually free energy, primarily from a vast, globally integrated network of solar and wind installations.¹⁹ This energy wealth enables high standards of living for a global population, powering homes, transport, and industries without environmental degradation or geopolitical conflict over fuel resources.
Sustainable Industry and Consumption: The global economy operates on fully circular principles. The concept of “waste” has been largely eliminated. Near-total recycling and reuse of critical materials like steel, aluminum, and battery components drastically reduces the need for virgin extraction and its associated energy use and environmental damage.⁴⁶ Products are designed for durability, repairability, and eventual disassembly.
Regenerative Food Systems: Global agriculture is universally practiced on regenerative principles. Farmland is no longer a source of carbon but a managed net carbon sink, sequestering carbon in healthy, fertile soils. This approach provides abundant, nutritious food, enhances biodiversity, improves water cycles, and eliminates the need for synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, supporting the well-being of both people and ecosystems.⁴⁷

5.2. Long-Term Carbon Cycle Management

Humanity assumes a new role as a conscious, active steward of the Earth’s carbon cycle.

Dynamic Carbon Balancing: The Global Climate Authority (GCA) oversees a sophisticated, dynamic system of Carbon Dioxide Removal. Using real-time atmospheric monitoring data, the global CDR infrastructure is modulated to adjust the rate of removal, precisely counteracting any minor residual emissions and continuing the gradual, multi-century drawdown of atmospheric CO2 towards safe, pre-industrial levels.
Permanent Sink Stewardship: A permanent, globally funded program is established for the perpetual monitoring and maintenance of all created carbon sinks. For natural sinks, this involves active forest management, advanced wildfire prevention and suppression, and practices to protect soil carbon stocks. For technological sinks, it involves the continuous monitoring of geological storage sites to ensure their integrity and prevent any leakage, as well as the tracking of carbon embedded in long-lived products.³⁶
Intergenerational Governance: The governance structures created out of necessity in the first decades of the crisis—the GCA and its associated scientific and regulatory bodies—are solidified into permanent institutions of planetary stewardship. Their core, enduring mission is to manage the Earth’s climate system for the benefit of all future generations, using the best available science to make decisions on a planetary scale.

Conclusion

This 50-year roadmap outlines a technically feasible, albeit profoundly challenging, pathway to stabilize and ultimately reverse anthropogenic climate change. It is predicated on a foundation of unwavering global unity and the collective will to act decisively. The plan moves through five critical phases, beginning with an emergency deceleration of emissions, transitioning to a complete overhaul of our energy and industrial systems, achieving net-zero emissions by mid-century, and finally entering an era of sustained carbon drawdown and long-term planetary stewardship.

The success of this plan hinges on the simultaneous advancement of four core pillars:

A rapid and complete transition to a renewable energy system, which serves as the bedrock for all other decarbonization efforts.
The targeted decarbonization of hard-to-abate sectors like heavy industry and long-haul transport through a new generation of technologies centered on green hydrogen and sustainable fuels.
A global commitment to ending deforestation and embracing regenerative agriculture, transforming the world’s lands from a carbon source into a vital carbon sink.
The responsible and large-scale deployment of a diverse portfolio of Carbon Dioxide Removal methods, essential for balancing residual emissions and achieving the net-negative state required for climate reversal.

This endeavor requires a financial mobilization without historical precedent, demanding average annual investments of $3.5 trillion. Yet, the cost of inaction—measured in catastrophic climate impacts, economic disruption, and human suffering—is immeasurably greater. The strategic analyses woven throughout this plan highlight the critical need to manage the transition equitably, address resource constraints through a circular economy, prioritize gross emissions reductions, and build robust governance systems to manage the complexities of a new carbon economy.

Ultimately, this roadmap is more than a technical blueprint; it is a vision for a new paradigm of human civilization. It charts a course not simply to avert disaster, but to build a more sustainable, resilient, and prosperous world. The journey is arduous, the timeline is aggressive, and the scale is planetary. But the science is clear, the technologies are emerging, and the pathway, as outlined here, is visible. The only remaining variable is the resolve to begin.

Download a .pdf copy of Project Gaia: A Unified Global Roadmap to Climate Change Stabilization and Reversal

Project Gaia A Unified Global Roadmap to Climate Stabilization and Reversal Download

Endnotes

IPCC, Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, ed. Core Writing Team, H. Lee, and J. Romero (Geneva, Switzerland: IPCC, 2023), https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/.
Parker, Kevin. “Project Gaia: A Unified Global Roadmap to Climate Stabilization and Reversal.” September 17, 2025.
United Nations Environment Programme, “Emissions Gap Report 2024: All Eyes on the Next Nationally Determined Contributions,” UNEP, 2024, https://www.unep.org/interactives/emissions-gap-report/2024/.
International Energy Agency (IEA), CO2 Emissions in 2023 (Paris: IEA, 2024), https://www.iea.org/reports/co2-emissions-in-2023.
IPCC, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, ed. P.R. Shukla, J. Skea, R. Slade, et al. (Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, 2022).
IPCC, Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report, 59.
Snover, A.K., C.L. Raymond, H.A. Roop, and H. Morgan, “No Time to Waste: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C and Implications for Washington State,” Briefing paper, Climate Impacts Group, University of Washington, Seattle, February 2019.
IPCC, Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report, 25.
Energy Transitions Commission, “Financing the Transition: How to Make the Money Flow for a Net-Zero Economy,” March 2023, https://www.energy-transitions.org/publications/financing-the-transition-etc/.
Nishant Saxena, “The Great Climate Betrayal: Why Governments Must Close the Gap Between Rhetoric and Reality,” The Times of India, 2024, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/the-write-wing/the-great-climate-betrayal-why-governments-must-close-the-gap-between-rhetoric-and-reality/.
Simon Black, Antung A. Liu, Ian Parry, and Nate Vernon, “IMF Fossil Fuel Subsidies Data: 2023 Update,” IMF Working Paper WP/23/169, August 2023.
“Carbon Dioxide Removal: NOAA State of the Science Factsheet,” NOAA Climate.gov, September 19, 2024, https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/carbon-dioxide-removal-noaa-state-science-factsheet.
“Global Energy Storage and Grids Pledge: Background Information,” COP29 Azerbaijan, 2024, https://cop29.az/en/pages/global-energy-storage-and-grids-pledge-background-information.
International Energy Agency (IEA), “Fossil Fuel Subsidies,” IEA, accessed September 2025, https://www.iea.org/topics/fossil-fuel-subsidies.
International Energy Agency (IEA), The Future of Hydrogen (Paris: IEA, 2019), https://www.iea.org/reports/the-future-of-hydrogen.
International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2024 (Abu Dhabi: IRENA, 2025).
International Energy Agency (IEA), CO2 Emissions in 2023, Executive Summary (Paris: IEA, 2024), https://www.iea.org/reports/co2-emissions-in-2023/executive-summary.
International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2024, Highlights (Abu Dhabi: IRENA, 2025).
International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), World Energy Transitions Outlook 2023: 1.5°C Pathway (Abu Dhabi: IRENA, 2023).
International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2024, Highlights (Abu Dhabi: IRENA, 2025).
Iberdrola, “IEA World Energy Outlook: Key Takeaways on the Future of Energy,” accessed September 2025, https://www.iberdrola.com/sustainability/energy-transition/iea-world-energy-outlook.
International Energy Agency (IEA), The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions (Paris: IEA, 2021), https://www.iea.org/reports/the-role-of-critical-minerals-in-clean-energy-transitions.
International Energy Agency (IEA), “Global EV Outlook 2024,” IEA, April 2024, https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2024.
International Energy Agency (IEA), “Electric Vehicle Charging,” in Global EV Outlook 2025 (Paris: IEA, 2025), https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2025/electric-vehicle-charging.
International Energy Agency (IEA), Global EV Outlook 2024 (Paris: IEA, 2024), https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2024.
“Decarbonizing the Steel Industry with Green Hydrogen,” ANDRITZ, accessed September 2025, https://www.andritz.com/power-to-x-en/use-cases/green-steel.
International Energy Agency (IEA), Global EV Outlook 2023: Catching up with Climate Ambitions (Paris: IEA, 2023).
World Economic Forum, “Net-Zero Industry Tracker 2023,” May 2023, https://www.weforum.org/publications/net-zero-industry-tracker-2023/in-full/cross-industry-findings/.
U.S. Department of Energy, “Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap,” Fact Sheet, September 2022, https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/Industrial%20Decarbonization%20Roadmap%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf.
International Energy Agency (IEA), “Policy Toolbox for Industrial Decarbonisation,” IEA, 2023, https://www.iea.org/reports/policy-toolbox-for-industrial-decarbonisation.
IPCC, Special Report on Climate Change and Land, ed. V.R. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Geneva: IPCC, 2019), https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl/.
International Energy Agency (IEA), “International Shipping,” IEA, accessed September 2025, https://www.iea.org/energy-system/transport/international-shipping.
U.S. Department of Energy, “Maritime Decarbonization,” accessed September 2025, https://www.energy.gov/eere/maritime-decarbonization.
David Webb, “How to Get Direct Air Capture Costs to Under $150 per Ton to Meet Net-Zero Goals,” World Economic Forum, August 9, 2023, https://www.weforum.org/stories/2023/08/how-to-get-direct-air-capture-under-150-per-ton-to-meet-net-zero-goals/.
“The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal,” SWP Berlin, accessed September 2025, https://www.swp-berlin.org/en/swp/about-us/organization/swp-projects/state-of-carbon-dioxide-removal.
IPCC, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, Chapter 12: Cross Sectoral Perspectives.
William F. Lamb et al., “The Carbon Dioxide Removal Gap,” Nature Climate Change 14 (2024): 644–51, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-01984-6.
International Air Transport Association (IATA), “Net-Zero Carbon Emissions by 2050,” IATA, accessed September 2025.
Stephen M. Smith et al., eds., The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal 2024 – 2nd Edition (Oxford: Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, 2024), https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/F85QJ.
“2024 State of CDR Report: Scaling up CO2 removal to meet Paris targets,” IIASA, June 5, 2024, https://iiasa.ac.at/news/jun-2024/2024-state-of-cdr-report-scaling-up-co2-removal-to-meet-paris-targets.
“Monitoring, Reporting and Verification,” The World Bank, accessed September 2025.
U.S. Department of Energy, “Carbon Negative Shot™: Technological Innovation Opportunities for CO2 Removal,” November 2024, https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2024-11/Carbon%20Negative%20Shot_Technological%20Innovation%20Opportunities%20for%20CO2%20Removal_November2024.pdf.
IPCC, Special Report on Climate Change and Land, Summary for Policymakers.
“Ocean Carbon Dioxide Removal,” Ocean Conservancy, accessed September 2025.
IPCC, Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate, ed. H.-O. Pörtner et al. (Geneva: IPCC, 2019).
International Energy Agency (IEA), “Critical Minerals,” IEA, accessed September 2025, https://www.iea.org/energy-system/industry/critical-minerals.
“Regenerative Agriculture,” The Nature Conservancy, accessed September 2025.