Our carbon-intensive economy has led to an average temperature rise of 1 °C since pre-industrial times. As a consequence, the world has seen increasing droughts, significant shrinking of the polar ice caps, and steady sea-level rise. To stall these issues’ worsening further, we must limit global warming to 1.5 °C. In addition to the economy’s decarbonization, this endeavour requires the use of negative-emissions technologies (NETs) that remove the main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, from the atmosphere. While techno-economic feasibility alone has driven the definition of negative-emissions solutions, NETs’ diverse, far-reaching implications demand a more holistic assessment. Here, we present a comprehensive framework, integrating NETs’ critical performance aspects of feasibility, effectiveness, and side impacts, to define the optimal technology mix within realistic outlooks. The resulting technology portfolios provide a useful new benchmark to compare carbon avoidance and removal measures and deliberately choose the best path to solve the climate emergency.

自工业化前以来，我们的碳密集型经济导致平均温度上升1°C。结果，世界上干旱加剧，极地冰盖明显缩小，海平面稳定上升。为了阻止这些问题进一步恶化，我们必须将全球变暖限制为1.5°C。除了经济脱碳之外，这项工作还需要使用负排放技术（NET），该技术可以从大气中去除主要的温室气体二氧化碳。虽然仅凭技术经济的可行性推动了负排放解决方案的定义，但NETs的广泛而深远的影响要求进行更全面的评估。在这里，我们提出了一个全面的框架，整合了NET的可行性，有效性和副作用方面的关键性能方面，在现实的前景中定义最佳技术组合。由此产生的技术产品组合提供了一个有用的新基准，可以比较碳减排和清除措施，并有意选择解决气候紧急情况的最佳途径。