Net-Zero CO2 Germany—A Retrospect From the Year 2050

Nadine Mengis; Aram Kalhori; Sonja Simon; Carina Harpprecht; Lars Baetcke; Enric Prats-Salvado; Cornelia Schmidt-Hattenberger; Angela Stevenson; Christian Dold; Juliane El Zohbi; Malgorzata Borchers; Daniela Thrän; Klaas Korte; Erik Gawel; Tobias Dolch; Dominik Heß; Christopher Yeates; Terese Thoni; Till Markus; Eva Schill; Mengzhu Xiao; Fiona Köhnke; Andreas Oschlies; Johannes Förster; Knut Görl; Martin Dornheim; Torsten Brinkmann; Silke Beck; David Bruhn; Zhan Li; Bettina Steuri; Michael Herbst; Torsten Sachs; Nathalie Monnerie; Thomas Pregger; Daniela Jacob; Roland Dittmeyer

doi:10.1029/2021EF002324

Net-Zero CO₂ Germany—A Retrospect From the Year 2050

Nadine Mengis, Aram Kalhori, Sonja Simon, Carina Harpprecht, Lars Baetcke, Enric Prats-Salvado, Cornelia Schmidt-Hattenberger, Angela Stevenson, Christian Dold, Juliane El Zohbi, Malgorzata Borchers, Daniela Thrän, Klaas Korte, Erik Gawel, Tobias Dolch, Dominik Heß, Christopher Yeates, Terese Thoni, Till Markus, Eva SchillMengzhu Xiao, Fiona Köhnke, Andreas Oschlies, Johannes Förster, Knut Görl, Martin Dornheim, Torsten Brinkmann, Silke Beck, David Bruhn, Zhan Li, Bettina Steuri, Michael Herbst, Torsten Sachs, Nathalie Monnerie, Thomas Pregger, Daniela Jacob, Roland Dittmeyer

Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

Germany 2050: For the first time Germany reached a balance between its sources of anthropogenic CO₂ to the atmosphere and newly created anthropogenic sinks. This backcasting study presents a fictional future in which this goal was achieved by avoiding (∼645 Mt CO₂), reducing (∼50 Mt CO₂) and removing (∼60 Mt CO₂) carbon emissions. This meant substantial transformation of the energy system, increasing energy efficiency, sector coupling, and electrification, energy storage solutions including synthetic energy carriers, sector-specific solutions for industry, transport, and agriculture, as well as natural-sink enhancement and technological carbon dioxide options. All of the above was necessary to achieve a net-zero CO₂ system for Germany by 2050.

Original language	English
Article number	e2021EF002324
Journal	Earth's Future
Volume	10
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EF002324
State	Published - Feb 2022
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

carbon dioxide removal
geological storage
mitigation
natural-sink enhancement
negative emissions
net-zero

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1029/2021EF002324

Cite this

Mengis, N., Kalhori, A., Simon, S., Harpprecht, C., Baetcke, L., Prats-Salvado, E., Schmidt-Hattenberger, C., Stevenson, A., Dold, C., El Zohbi, J., Borchers, M., Thrän, D., Korte, K., Gawel, E., Dolch, T., Heß, D., Yeates, C., Thoni, T., Markus, T., ... Dittmeyer, R. (2022). Net-Zero CO₂ Germany—A Retrospect From the Year 2050. Earth's Future, 10(2), Article e2021EF002324. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EF002324

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title = "Net-Zero CO2 Germany—A Retrospect From the Year 2050",

abstract = "Germany 2050: For the first time Germany reached a balance between its sources of anthropogenic CO2 to the atmosphere and newly created anthropogenic sinks. This backcasting study presents a fictional future in which this goal was achieved by avoiding (∼645 Mt CO2), reducing (∼50 Mt CO2) and removing (∼60 Mt CO2) carbon emissions. This meant substantial transformation of the energy system, increasing energy efficiency, sector coupling, and electrification, energy storage solutions including synthetic energy carriers, sector-specific solutions for industry, transport, and agriculture, as well as natural-sink enhancement and technological carbon dioxide options. All of the above was necessary to achieve a net-zero CO2 system for Germany by 2050.",

keywords = "carbon dioxide removal, geological storage, mitigation, natural-sink enhancement, negative emissions, net-zero",

author = "Nadine Mengis and Aram Kalhori and Sonja Simon and Carina Harpprecht and Lars Baetcke and Enric Prats-Salvado and Cornelia Schmidt-Hattenberger and Angela Stevenson and Christian Dold and {El Zohbi}, Juliane and Malgorzata Borchers and Daniela Thr{\"a}n and Klaas Korte and Erik Gawel and Tobias Dolch and Dominik He{\ss} and Christopher Yeates and Terese Thoni and Till Markus and Eva Schill and Mengzhu Xiao and Fiona K{\"o}hnke and Andreas Oschlies and Johannes F{\"o}rster and Knut G{\"o}rl and Martin Dornheim and Torsten Brinkmann and Silke Beck and David Bruhn and Zhan Li and Bettina Steuri and Michael Herbst and Torsten Sachs and Nathalie Monnerie and Thomas Pregger and Daniela Jacob and Roland Dittmeyer",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Authors. Earth's Future published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Geophysical Union.",

year = "2022",

month = feb,

doi = "10.1029/2021EF002324",

language = "English",

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Mengis, N, Kalhori, A, Simon, S, Harpprecht, C, Baetcke, L, Prats-Salvado, E, Schmidt-Hattenberger, C, Stevenson, A, Dold, C, El Zohbi, J, Borchers, M, Thrän, D, Korte, K, Gawel, E, Dolch, T, Heß, D, Yeates, C, Thoni, T, Markus, T, Schill, E, Xiao, M, Köhnke, F, Oschlies, A, Förster, J, Görl, K, Dornheim, M, Brinkmann, T, Beck, S, Bruhn, D, Li, Z, Steuri, B, Herbst, M, Sachs, T, Monnerie, N, Pregger, T, Jacob, D & Dittmeyer, R 2022, 'Net-Zero CO₂ Germany—A Retrospect From the Year 2050', Earth's Future, vol. 10, no. 2, e2021EF002324. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EF002324

TY - JOUR

T1 - Net-Zero CO2 Germany—A Retrospect From the Year 2050

AU - Mengis, Nadine

AU - Kalhori, Aram

AU - Simon, Sonja

AU - Harpprecht, Carina

AU - Baetcke, Lars

AU - Prats-Salvado, Enric

AU - Schmidt-Hattenberger, Cornelia

AU - Stevenson, Angela

AU - Dold, Christian

AU - El Zohbi, Juliane

AU - Borchers, Malgorzata

AU - Thrän, Daniela

AU - Korte, Klaas

AU - Gawel, Erik

AU - Dolch, Tobias

AU - Heß, Dominik

AU - Yeates, Christopher

AU - Thoni, Terese

AU - Markus, Till

AU - Schill, Eva

AU - Xiao, Mengzhu

AU - Köhnke, Fiona

AU - Oschlies, Andreas

AU - Förster, Johannes

AU - Görl, Knut

AU - Dornheim, Martin

AU - Brinkmann, Torsten

AU - Beck, Silke

AU - Bruhn, David

AU - Li, Zhan

AU - Steuri, Bettina

AU - Herbst, Michael

AU - Sachs, Torsten

AU - Monnerie, Nathalie

AU - Pregger, Thomas

AU - Jacob, Daniela

AU - Dittmeyer, Roland

PY - 2022/2

Y1 - 2022/2

N2 - Germany 2050: For the first time Germany reached a balance between its sources of anthropogenic CO2 to the atmosphere and newly created anthropogenic sinks. This backcasting study presents a fictional future in which this goal was achieved by avoiding (∼645 Mt CO2), reducing (∼50 Mt CO2) and removing (∼60 Mt CO2) carbon emissions. This meant substantial transformation of the energy system, increasing energy efficiency, sector coupling, and electrification, energy storage solutions including synthetic energy carriers, sector-specific solutions for industry, transport, and agriculture, as well as natural-sink enhancement and technological carbon dioxide options. All of the above was necessary to achieve a net-zero CO2 system for Germany by 2050.

AB - Germany 2050: For the first time Germany reached a balance between its sources of anthropogenic CO2 to the atmosphere and newly created anthropogenic sinks. This backcasting study presents a fictional future in which this goal was achieved by avoiding (∼645 Mt CO2), reducing (∼50 Mt CO2) and removing (∼60 Mt CO2) carbon emissions. This meant substantial transformation of the energy system, increasing energy efficiency, sector coupling, and electrification, energy storage solutions including synthetic energy carriers, sector-specific solutions for industry, transport, and agriculture, as well as natural-sink enhancement and technological carbon dioxide options. All of the above was necessary to achieve a net-zero CO2 system for Germany by 2050.

KW - carbon dioxide removal

KW - geological storage

KW - mitigation

KW - natural-sink enhancement

KW - negative emissions

KW - net-zero

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85125132886&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1029/2021EF002324

DO - 10.1029/2021EF002324

M3 - Comment/debate

AN - SCOPUS:85125132886

SN - 2328-4277

VL - 10

JO - Earth's Future

JF - Earth's Future

IS - 2

M1 - e2021EF002324

ER -