Is the Earth Now in a Multifactorial CO₂ Tipping Point? The Case for More Aggressive Carbon Dioxide Removal

Abstract

David Edward Comings*

The Keeling Curve shows that in addition to the progressive increase in the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere, the rate of increase in the rate of uptake of CO₂ into the atmosphere, both in ppm and gigatons C/year, has been progressively increasing from 1960 to the present, despite some levelling off of man-made emissions. There is a similar processive increase in the earth’s heat imbalance. The author proposes that, this is due to the additive effect of multiple partially activated tipping points putting the earth into a positive feedback mode such that these increases in rate will continue even after net zero emissions from fossil fuels is attained. As a result, controlling global warming will require a marked acceleration of Carbon Dioxide Removal using multiple Negative Emission Technologies.