Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology, coupled with geological Carbon Storage (DACS), has recently emerged as one of the main carbon dioxide removal options alongside bioenergy energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and Nature Based Solutions (NBS). If deployed at scale, these removal solutions would result in ‘negative emissions’ – which would preclude the need for riskier options to abate emissions.

In a new Oxford Institute for Energy Studies Research Paper, Nigel Curson, Executive Vice Present of Technical Excellence, alongside other leading thinkers, outlines the technical, geographical, and political requirements of scaling Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology from its current megatonne level to the gigatonne scale needed to achieve net zero by 2050.