According to the Federal Climate Protection Act, Germany's greenhouse gas emissions are to be gradually reduced to the point where net greenhouse gas neutrality is achieved by 2045. By 2050, the emissions balance should even become negative overall. Emission reductions alone are not sufficient for this goal – active removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is also necessary. In addition to technical methods, biobased options are also available: concepts for improving natural carbon sinks in agriculture and forestry, as well as in organic soils (including peatlands); the use of biobased building materials; and finally, the production of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS).
These biobased methods differ, among other things, in their temporal dynamics – that is, in how much lead time they require, how permanent their sink effect ultimately is, and in their sink capacity at different times. As part of the BMBF-funded BioNET project, scientists from seven different institutions have now compared how the sequestration capacity of various biobased methods develops over time, what amount of CO2 can ultimately be removed, and what the cost range for this removal might be. The basis for this was "factsheets" created within the project, which provided a uniform and comparable reference basis for the individual methods.
- Wollnik R, Borchers M, Seibert R, Abel S, Herrmann P, Elsasser P, Hildebrandt J, Meisel K, Hofmann P, Radtke K, Selig M, Kazmin S, Szarka N, Thrän D (2024) Dynamics of bio-based carbon dioxide removal in Germany. Sci Rep 14:20395, DOI:10.1038/s41598-024-71017-x
https://literatur.thuenen.de/digbib_extern/dn068882.pdf Wollnik R, Borchers M, Seibert R, Abel S, Herrmann P, Elsasser P, Hildebrandt J, Mühlich M, Eisenschmidt P, Meisel K, Henning P, Radtke KS, Selig M, Kazmin S, Thrän D, Szarka N (2023) Factsheets for bio-based carbon dioxide removal options in Germany. Göttingen: OpenAgrar, 1 p, DOI:10.48480/x293-8050
https://literatur.thuenen.de/digbib_extern/dn069214.pdf- Project:
Multi-stage assessment of biobased negative emission technologies (BioNET)
