Nations join Danish-led coalition for climate positivity

Even with major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, it would not suffice according to the UN’s climate panel, as there will still be a need to remove already emitted CO2 to prevent worst-case climate scenarios. Several countries have now joined a Danish-Finnish alliance, aiming to become ‘climate positive’ by absorbing more CO2 than they emit. The alliance, named ‘Gone – Group of Negative Emittors’, now includes Suriname, Ethiopia, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Kenya. Finland’s climate minister stresses the importance of both reducing emissions and removing ‘gigatons of CO2’ to keep the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees. The techniques for CO2 removal, such as biomass capture or afforestation, are still controversial and experts caution against allowing CO2 capture to overshadow the importance of transforming societal production processes.