Climatologist MichaelEMann explains to Congress why nature-based solutions are 'a convenient talking point' for the fossil fuel industry and carbon capture and storage is 'not a meaningful climate solution.'
Democrats on the panel asked Mann to address carbon capture and storage as well as nature-based solutions such as planting trees—both of which critics"The climate crisis is not a theoretical problem for the future, it's an imminent problem and crisis right now," Rep. Ayanna Pressley said near the end of the hearing."It is real and it is here. In order to confront it, we need real solutions that are proven to work and to keep our planet safe.
"No, I don't see any evidence at this point," Mann said."There hasn't been a proof of concept that shows that you can use CCS and produce energy without producing carbon pollution, and as long as there's no proof of concept for that, then obviously it's not a meaningful climate solution and it displaces meaningful climate solutions like clean energy, renewable energy.
"This is a common sort of pledge that you hear from fossil fuel producers," Mann said."It's a bit of a shell game because the idea is that we can offset these fossil fuels that are carbon that's been buried beneath the surface of the planet for millions of years, that we can somehow offset that by planting trees whose lifetime may be decades or at most centuries. And if you actually look at the residence time of that carbon, it's not equivalent.
"Natural gas is a fossil fuel," Mann responded."When you burn it, it generates carbon pollution—maybe somewhat less than when you burn coal, but at the same time, the process of extracting natural gas from the ground …hydraulic fracturing or fracking, releases what we call fugitive methane." The committee's chair, Rep. Carolyn Maloney , planned the hearing with Rep. Ro Khanna , a subcommittee leader. Maloney, who has scheduled another hearing for March, noted that Tuesday's event came after four Big Oil CEOsRichard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, said in a statement Tuesday that"we're grateful to Chairs Maloney and Khanna for their continued work to advance the committee's investigation and hold the fossil fuel industry accountable.
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