IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v17y2024i16p4118-d1459134.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainable Carbon Utilization for a Climate-Neutral Economy–Framework Necessities and Assessment Criteria

Author

Listed:
  • Tjerk Zitscher

    (Institute of Environmental Technology and Energy Economics, Hamburg University of Technology, Eißendorfer Straße 40, 21073 Hamburg, Germany)

  • Martin Kaltschmitt

    (Institute of Environmental Technology and Energy Economics, Hamburg University of Technology, Eißendorfer Straße 40, 21073 Hamburg, Germany)

Abstract

The need to limit anthropogenic climate change to 1.5–2 °C, as agreed in the Paris Agreement, requires a significant reduction of CO 2 emissions resulting from the use of fossil carbon. However, based on current knowledge, carbon is expected to remain crucial in certain industrial sectors, e.g., the chemical industry. Consequently, it is essential to identify and utilize sustainable carbon sources in the future. In this context, various carbon sources were examined and classified in terms of their disruption of the Earth’s (fast) carbon cycle. Furthermore, the examined carbon sources were qualitatively analyzed with regard to their technical readiness level, their energy expenditure, and their current and future availability, as well as legal regulation within the European Union. As a result, only biogenic and mixed carbon from the ambient air can be considered genuinely sustainable within the Earth’s (fast) carbon cycle. Mixed carbon streams, e.g., from waste recycling, fall into a gray area. The same applies to certain process-related emissions that originally descend from fossil fuel energy. In terms of energy considerations, technical maturity, and exploitable potentials, prioritizing the utilization of biogenic carbon sources is advisable for the time being, especially for CO 2 produced as a by-product originating from biogenic carbon carriers.

Suggested Citation

  • Tjerk Zitscher & Martin Kaltschmitt, 2024. "Sustainable Carbon Utilization for a Climate-Neutral Economy–Framework Necessities and Assessment Criteria," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-24, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:16:p:4118-:d:1459134
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/16/4118/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/16/4118/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Psarras, Peter C. & Comello, Stephen & Bains, Praveen & Charoensawadpong, Panunya & Reichelstein, Stefan J. & Wilcox, Jennifer, 2017. "Carbon Capture and Utilization in the Industrial Sector," Research Papers repec:ecl:stabus:3493, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    2. Peng, Ruoqing & Tang, Justin Hayse Chiwing G. & Yang, Xiong & Meng, Meng & Zhang, Jie & Zhuge, Chengxiang, 2024. "Investigating the factors influencing the electric vehicle market share: A comparative study of the European Union and United States," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 355(C).
    3. Cameron Hepburn & Ella Adlen & John Beddington & Emily A. Carter & Sabine Fuss & Niall Mac Dowell & Jan C. Minx & Pete Smith & Charlotte K. Williams, 2019. "The technological and economic prospects for CO2 utilization and removal," Nature, Nature, vol. 575(7781), pages 87-97, November.
    4. Robert A. Berner, 2003. "The long-term carbon cycle, fossil fuels and atmospheric composition," Nature, Nature, vol. 426(6964), pages 323-326, November.
    5. Michael Carus & Lara Dammer & Achim Raschka & Pia Skoczinski, 2020. "Renewable carbon: Key to a sustainable and future‐oriented chemical and plastic industry: Definition, strategy, measures and potential," Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 10(3), pages 488-505, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Valero, Antonio & Agudelo, Andrés & Valero, Alicia, 2011. "The crepuscular planet. A model for the exhausted atmosphere and hydrosphere," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 3745-3753.
    2. Guido Busca, 2024. "Critical Aspects of Energetic Transition Technologies and the Roles of Materials Chemistry and Engineering," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-32, July.
    3. Stephen G. Wiedemann & Quan V. Nguyen & Simon J. Clarke, 2022. "Using LCA and Circularity Indicators to Measure the Sustainability of Textiles—Examples of Renewable and Non-Renewable Fibres," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-14, December.
    4. Michael Carus & Lara Dammer & Achim Raschka & Pia Skoczinski, 2020. "Renewable carbon: Key to a sustainable and future‐oriented chemical and plastic industry: Definition, strategy, measures and potential," Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 10(3), pages 488-505, June.
    5. Joey Disch & Luca Bohn & Susanne Koch & Michael Schulz & Yiyong Han & Alessandro Tengattini & Lukas Helfen & Matthias Breitwieser & Severin Vierrath, 2022. "High-resolution neutron imaging of salt precipitation and water transport in zero-gap CO2 electrolysis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    6. Moreaux, Michel & Amigues, Jean-Pierre & van der Meijden, Gerard & Withagen, Cees, 2024. "Carbon capture: Storage vs. Utilization," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    7. Tihamér Tibor Sebestyén, 2024. "Evaluation of the Carbon Footprint of Wooden Glamping Structures by Life Cycle Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-27, March.
    8. Georgios Varvoutis & Athanasios Lampropoulos & Evridiki Mandela & Michalis Konsolakis & George E. Marnellos, 2022. "Recent Advances on CO 2 Mitigation Technologies: On the Role of Hydrogenation Route via Green H 2," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-38, June.
    9. McLaughlin, Hope & Littlefield, Anna A. & Menefee, Maia & Kinzer, Austin & Hull, Tobias & Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Bazilian, Morgan D. & Kim, Jinsoo & Griffiths, Steven, 2023. "Carbon capture utilization and storage in review: Sociotechnical implications for a carbon reliant world," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    10. Hermann, Weston A., 2006. "Quantifying global exergy resources," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(12), pages 1685-1702.
    11. Tuğçe Beyazay & Kendra S. Belthle & Christophe Farès & Martina Preiner & Joseph Moran & William F. Martin & Harun Tüysüz, 2023. "Ambient temperature CO2 fixation to pyruvate and subsequently to citramalate over iron and nickel nanoparticles," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    12. Shao, Tianming & Pan, Xunzhang & Li, Xiang & Zhou, Sheng & Zhang, Shu & Chen, Wenying, 2022. "China's industrial decarbonization in the context of carbon neutrality: A sub-sectoral analysis based on integrated modelling," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    13. Subrato Acharjya & Jiacheng Chen & Minghui Zhu & Chong Peng, 2021. "Elucidating the reactivity and nature of active sites for tin phthalocyanine during CO2 reduction," Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 11(6), pages 1191-1197, December.
    14. Chang, Yuan & Gao, Siqi & Ma, Qian & Wei, Ying & Li, Guoping, 2024. "Techno-economic analysis of carbon capture and utilization technologies and implications for China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    15. Patange, Omkar S. & Garg, Amit & Jayaswal, Sachin, 2022. "An integrated bottom-up optimization to investigate the role of BECCS in transitioning towards a net-zero energy system: A case study from Gujarat, India," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    16. Gür, Turgut M., 2020. "Perspectives on oxygen-based coal conversion towards zero-carbon power generation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    17. Rafaty, R. & Dolphin, G. & Pretis, F., 2020. "Carbon pricing and the elasticity of CO2 emissions," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 20116, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    18. Cameron Hepburn & Brian O’Callaghan & Nicholas Stern & Joseph Stiglitz & Dimitri Zenghelis, 2020. "Will COVID-19 fiscal recovery packages accelerate or retard progress on climate change?," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 36(Supplemen), pages 359-381.
    19. Chen, S. & Shi, W.K. & Yong, J.Y. & Zhuang, Y. & Lin, Q.Y. & Gao, N. & Zhang, X.J. & Jiang, L., 2023. "Numerical study on a structured packed adsorption bed for indoor direct air capture," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    20. Wu Yang & Zhang Min & Mingxing Yang & Jun Yan, 2022. "Exploration of the Implementation of Carbon Neutralization in the Field of Natural Resources under the Background of Sustainable Development—An Overview," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-28, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:16:p:4118-:d:1459134. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.