Identification of Major Sinks of Greenhouse Gases

Abstract

Climate change has been an emerging global concern for the past few decades. Since the advent of industrialization, the anthropogenic emissions of Greenhouse gases (GHG), mainly carbon dioxide (CO₂), are the biggest contributor to the global temperature rise. According to the Paris Agreement in 2015, the global temperature rise needs to be controlled to at least below 2 °C by 2050–2100. The lifetime of atmospheric CO₂ is uncertain as only some of it is absorbed by the land and ocean-based sinks and most of it can remain in the atmosphere for several hundred years. Marked reduction in the increased levels of long-lived GHG, specifically CO₂, a major contributor in radiative forcing, is thus being considered of utmost priority in the present time to stabilize the global temperature. To control unprecedented global temperature rise, measures should be adopted to control GHG emission and their removal through sinks. Despite numerous efforts being targeted towards the reduction of carbon emissions, the desired levels of reduction in emissions are not been achieved. Importantly, the deliberate removal of carbon from the atmosphere by various natural and artificial sinks holds the potential to be a promising alternative. Therefore, identification of natural sinks for CO₂ and finding ways to enhance their removal potential and developing methods to create artificial sinks for deliberate removal of CO₂ are critical research areas. Furthermore, after removal from the atmosphere by various natural and artificially created sinks, subsequent methods are also being developed to store carbon in deep reservoirs for an extended period. This chapter provides a summary of various natural and artificial sinks of CO₂ and other GHGs and undergoing research on the development of new approaches for their efficient removal from the environment.