For most countries around the world, sourcing energy entirely from wind, solar, geothermal, and hydropower by 2050 would reduce their energy needs and costs, improve air quality, and help slow climate change, according to a study in Environmental Science & Technology.
How about we do both ?
Yeah, we’re largely past the arguments about the economics of global warming and should be well into the discussions on what is technically feasible. Not many costs are too great at this point.
Yeah net zero is not enough and using trees and plants to capture carbon probably isn’t enough either. We burned millions of years of plant growth in just a few centuries.
We currently emit a lot so the choice is: emit less with renewables or keep emitting but capture the carbon
Since renewables are much cheaper we reduce emissions much faster then going with carbon capture. That might be a good idea down the line, but currently 80% of our energy comes from fossil fuels, so down the line is probably decades.