Blueprint for the sunlit bounce-back era--late 2010s to early 2020s

Blueprint for the sunlit bounce-back era--late 2010s to early 2020s

The decarbonization of the energy system is the foundation for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and its pillars are the large-scale introduction of renewable energy, electrification of the industrial, transportation, and residential sectors, higher efficiency, and upgrading of the power grid. At that time, the efficiency of solar and wind power generation improved year by year, and the development of large-capacity, long-life storage batteries also progressed. In addition, digital control and bidirectional operation of the power grid became possible, making it practical to absorb fluctuations in renewable electricity and distribute it over a wide area. Carbon removal from the atmosphere (CDR) is considered an indispensable complement when emission reductions alone are not sufficient, and includes a wide range of naturally occurring methods such as reforestation and soil carbon fixation, as well as CCS combined with direct air capture and bioenergy. These are aimed at perman
ently sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, with "removing carbon from the atmosphere" as a pillar of the strategy. Radiation management, which reflects sunlight back into space, has the potential to temporarily mitigate and in some cases reverse dangerously hot conditions by reducing heat received at the surface through aerosol dispersal into the stratosphere, enhancing cloud reflectivity, and restoring reflectivity on sea ice and ice sheet surfaces. However, there are many issues to be addressed, including sustainability of effects, regional differences, unforeseen side effects, and the difficulty of reaching an international consensus.