What You Need to Know About Carbon Removal | Gabrielle Walker | TED

翻译人员: 新 陈 校对人员: Yip Yan Yeung

So I'm going to talk to you about carbon removals,

我的演讲主题是碳移除，

and I’m going to start with this.

就从它说起吧。

This is a woolly pig.

这是一头毛猪。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

She's gorgeous, obviously,

很美，不是吗 ？

and she’s also one part in a whole new set of approaches

她是应对气候变化一系列新举措中的

for dealing with climate change.

重要一环。

They are all called carbon removals,

这些举措统称为碳移除，

and they all involve taking CO2 out of the sky

总的来说就是 将空气中的二氧化碳吸除，

and storing it somewhere safe.

并安全地储存起来。

I’ll come back to the woolly pig later,

一会儿我还会再回到这只毛猪，

but first, why do we need carbon removals?

还是先来谈谈为什么 需要进行碳移除吧。

Because I know what you’re thinking:

因为大家现在肯定在想：

isn’t it easier to stop putting the carbon in the atmosphere

直接停止向大气中排放碳

in the first place?

不更简单一些吗？

And the answer is yes, of course it is.

是的，没错。

We have to do everything we can as fast as we can

我们需要尝试各种方法

to stop carbon getting into the sky

尽快阻止碳排放，

and stop climate change getting worse.

防止气候恶化。

That should not be a controversial point of view at this meeting.

我想在座的各位对此应该没有异议。

But the problem is ...

但问题在于，

we’ve left it too late.

为时已晚，

We can't now do it fast enough.

时不我待。

I've been working on climate change for more than 20 years,

20 年来我一直 从事气候变化研究，

and I’ve talked about it in boardrooms and classrooms

我曾在企业、学校等许多地方

and everywhere in between,

发表过关于气候变化的演讲，

and I was shocked when I found this out,

尽管这一发现令我震惊，

but the science is utterly ...

但科学结论就……

utterly clear.

摆在那里，显而易见。

If we’re going to have a fighting chance of staying below 1.5 degrees,

要想争取到这样一个机会， 使全球温升低于 1.5 摄氏度

that “safe limit,”

这个安全线，

we have to have carbon removals,

我们必须进行碳移除，

and it looks like we’re going to need a lot.

而且碳移除要达到足够规模。

Scenarios from the Energy Transitions Commission,

根据能源过渡委员会，

from the International Energy Agency,

国际能源署，

from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,

以及政府间气候变化 专门委员会做出的预判，

have all shown that we’re going to need billions of tonnes of carbon removals

我们要在 2050 年前

between now and 2050

移除掉几十亿吨的碳

才有可能将温升 控制在 1.5 摄氏度以内。

to give us a chance of staying below 1.5 degrees.

We’re going to need both reductions and removals.

碳减排和碳移除两者缺一不可。

But there's another more heartening reason why we need carbon removals.

进行碳移除的另一原因更鼓舞人心。

They also give us a chance --

碳移除使得我们有机会，

our only chance --

唯一一次机会，

not just to stop the problem getting worse,

不仅可以阻止情况恶化，

but to make it better.

还能使情况好转。

Because even 1.5 degrees isn't actually safe.

因为温升在 1.5 摄氏度以下 并不意味着就安全了。

We’re not there yet, and we’re already experiencing the fires and the floods

离安全还远着呢， 现在气候变化引起的火灾、洪水、

and the droughts and the storms.

干旱以及风暴已经给我们带来影响。

With carbon removals,

通过碳移除，

we can take our historical emissions out of the atmosphere.

我们可以将之前排放的碳 从大气中移除。

We can clean up the mess we’ve made,

可以收拾之前的烂摊子，

and we can give our world a chance to heal.

让世界恢复原状。

So what do the removals look like?

那么碳移除应该采用何种形式呢？

I’ve been talking to a lot of people about carbon removals,

我和很多人探讨过碳移除，

from business executives to climate activists,

他们中有企业主管， 有气候活动家，

and they tend to go one of two ways.

途径莫过于两种，非此即彼。

They either think of trees

要么植树造林，

or they think of big, futuristic machines.

要么开发高端的大型机器。

Nature versus tech;

要么依靠自然，要么依靠科技；

green versus chrome.

要么利用自然资源， 要么利用机器设备。

But the more I’ve dug into carbon removals,

我对碳移除了解越深入，

the more I’ve realized this is not the right way to think about them.

我就越明白二元对立的思维要不得。

Because the world is full of ways to store carbon.

因为你可以把碳 储存在任何一个地方。

You can store it in trees,

树木，

you can store it in soils,

土壤，

you can store it in the ocean,

海洋，

you can store it in buildings,

建筑，

you can store it in rocks,

岩石，

you can store it deep underground.

地表深处都能储存碳。

And every one of those approaches requires some combination of natural resources

但做到这些需要自然资源，

and human ingenuity

人类智慧，

and technology.

科学技术三管齐下。

We’re going to need both nature and technology.

自然和科技的力量我们都要借助。

I'll show you what I mean.

我来告诉你们为什么我这么说。

So we start on the natural end of the spectrum with trees.

先说自然一派选择的树木吧。

Now, I still find it astonishing

地球上每颗树、每棵植物

that every single tree and plant on Earth

无一不是由空气中的碳构成的，

has made its entire body directly from carbon in the air.

至今我依然觉得不可思议。

They’re incredible carbon capture machines,

它们是天然的碳捕获机器，

and we’re going to need a lot more of them.

我们需要很多这样的机器。

But we also have to do it right,

但我们要妥善处置，

because if you put trees in the wrong place ...

种植地点不对……

they burn.

就可能会发生火灾。

We have to put trees in places where they foster biodiversity,

树木要能够促进 周围环境的生物多样性，

where they don’t compete with food for land

不能占用当地的作物用地，

and where science and technology tell us they are likely to survive

要在科技能够证明它们能抵抗得住

even in the face of climate change.

气候变化的地方。

Now, if you don’t want that CO2 from the burning trees

如果你不希望树木燃烧 产生的二氧化碳

to get into the sky,

进入大气中，

you can actually burn the wood deliberately in a power station,

你可以选择在发电站燃烧木材，

capture the CO2

捕获二氧化碳，

and bury it in a process known as BECCS,

并将它储存起来， 这一过程叫做碳捕获与储存（BECCS），

which also gives you energy as a sideline.

还能发电，一举两得。

But if you want to keep the carbon locked up in the wood,

但如果你想将碳封存在木头中，

there are technological ways to do that as well,

也有技术能做到，

like this one.

比如这个，

Look at this.

看这儿。

A whole new movement to use wood as a building material

这种新方法转而用这些木材建造

in modern, high-rise buildings.

现代化的高楼大厦。

That’s a good idea for at least three reasons.

这主意不错，原因有三。

First of all, it keeps the carbon locked up in the wood.

首先，碳被封存在树木内部。

Secondly, it displaces high-emitting materials like concrete.

其次，能取代混凝土等一些 碳排放量高的建筑材料。

And thirdly, the buildings are gorgeous.

最后，这些建筑造型美观。

Now you can also use technology to help carbon stay locked up in soil.

你还可以借助科技 将碳封存在土壤中。

Storing carbon in soil sounds like a good idea,

听起来不错，

and it is a good idea.

事实上也的确如此。

The question is how long does the carbon stay there?

问题是能封存几年呢？

Because if you change your agricultural practices for one year, two years,

如果你放弃传统的耕作方式， 坚持个一两年，

that’s fine.

还行。

But if you ever go back to the old ways,

但你只要重操旧业，

the carbon goes back up into the sky.

碳就会回到空气中。

That’s why this stuff can help.

这时有件东西就能派上用场。

It’s called biochar,

它叫生物炭，

and you make it by taking wood and burning it in the absence of oxygen

木头在无氧环境下持续燃烧

until you get this.

就能形成。

It locks the carbon up in the wood,

它能将碳封存在木头中，

and now it can’t burn away.

而且碳就不容易被分解掉了。

Now, it turns out that biochar is very good for soils.

生物炭有利于改良土质。

In fact, Indigenous people in the Amazon have been using it for generations

事实上，亚马逊土著人 世代使用这一方法

to improve the quality of their soil.

改良当地土壤。

We can do that on a much bigger scale,

我们可以大规模使用这个方法，

improve the soil

改良土壤，

and lock up carbon.

封存住碳。

That’s nature

这是自然，

and technology

科技，

and Indigenous wisdom,

原始人类智慧的

all in one sweet package.

完美结合。

Now you can use technology as well ...

你还可以利用科技……

to speed up natural processes.

加速自然进程。

So this is basalt.

这是玄武岩。

It’s a volcanic rock.

是一种火山岩。

You can find it more or less everywhere on Earth,

这种岩石遍布世界各地，

and it naturally takes up CO2 in a process called chemical weathering.

在自然化学风化作用下， 能够将二氧化碳吸收掉。

Unfortunately, it takes thousands of years to do it.

不过这要花上千万年的时间。

But you can speed up the process if you grind up the rock

但你可以将岩石磨碎，撒在田野上，

and spread it on fields,

从而加速这一过程，

and then you can speed it up to just a couple of years.

几年时间足以。

And like biochar, it’s good for the soil.

和生物炭一样，它能改良土壤。

You get minerals in the soil where you need them.

哪块土壤需要就撒在哪儿。

And when it washes off into the sea,

流到海里，

it can also help with another big bugbear of climate change:

它还能帮我们解决另一大气候灾难：

ocean acidification.

海洋酸化。

And if we did this on two-thirds of the world’s croplands,

如果我们在全球 三分之二的耕地上都撒上它，

we could potentially take up to four billion tonnes of carbon

每年就有可能从空气中吸除掉

from the atmosphere every year,

多达 40 亿吨的碳，

which is a very big chunk of what we need.

这就帮我们分担了不少压力。

Now, these approaches so far,

目前这些方法，

like planting trees,

比如植树，

take a lot of land to be able to get them to scale.

需要占用大面积土地 才能形成规模。

But there is one approach

但有一种方法，

where you can actually do it in a very small amount of land,

仅需很小面积的土地，

but still get to scale.

就足以形成规模。

It’s called direct air capture,

那就是碳捕获，

and it basically involves massive electric fans blowing a lot of air

基本上就是用巨型电风扇 将大量空气

over a carbon capture device.

输送到一个碳捕获设备。

Now, OK, this does look like a big, futuristic machine.

好吧，我承认，

这看起来就像一个高端的巨型机器。

I admit that.

But it’s still marrying technology with a natural process --

但其实它还是结合了科技和自然——

geology --

用到了地质学——

because when you’ve captured the CO2,

因为捕获到二氧化碳后，

you bury it deep underground.

需要将其埋入地下深处。

This is an artist’s impression of a plant that’s being designed

这是一张很有艺术感的照片，

by Carbon Engineering in Texas.

照片中的发电厂由德州的碳工程 （Carbon Engineering）公司设计。

And its aim is that it will take up

每年可以从空气中

one million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere every year.

吸收 100 万吨的二氧化碳。

And I love this bit --

我对一点很感兴趣——

where does it go?

吸收的二氧化碳到哪儿去了？

They put it deep underground in the same geological formations

这些二氧化碳被储存在

开采出德克萨斯石油的地质层 相同的地质结构中。

that the Texas oil was originally squeezed out of.

I love the poetry of this.

多妙呀。

It’s like reversing the valve

这就好像扭转阀门，

and putting the CO2 back where it came from.

让二氧化碳打道回府。

And recent studies have shown that if you do that,

最近研究证明，

98 percent of it will still be there in 10,000 years.

这种方法能将 98% 的碳 储存 1 万年。

When you put it down,

你将二氧化碳储存在地下，

it stays down.

它就会一直在地下。

This is still a little bit futuristic.

这目前还只是设想。

It’s still in the planning and design stages,

还在规划和设计阶段，

but this carbon capture plant started operating this year.

但照片上这台碳捕获发电厂 今年已经开始投入运营了。

A smaller scale,

规模虽然不大，

but it’s already doing it.

但毕竟迈出了这一步。

This is Climeworks and Carbfix in Iceland.

这是冰岛的气候工作和碳处理 （Climeworks and Carbfix）公司。

They're using geothermal heat to power it,

他们使用地热能供电，

and they’re putting the CO2 into the Icelandic basaltic rock.

将二氧化碳储存在冰岛的玄武岩中。

So one issue, though, with direct air capture,

但直接空气捕获存在一个问题，

is it takes a lot of energy to power those fans.

这些风扇能耗巨大。

And that energy obviously has to be green.

而且使用能源必须是绿色、

It has to be clean;

清洁的；

you can’t use fossil fuels for it.

不能使用化石燃料。

But it also makes it much more expensive than other techniques.

这也就使得它 比其他处理技术昂贵得多。

And it takes energy to cook wood and to grind rock,

燃烧木头、磨碎岩石都要耗能，

and so all of those approaches I’m talking about

我所说的这些方法，

are currently much more expensive than planting trees.

目前都要比植树造林昂贵得多。

But we can do something about that.

但这并不意味着我们无能为力。

We can invest in it now,

从现在起我们就可以注入资金，

do the research and development

展开调研、开发技术，

and get them down the cost curve to make them affordable.

降低成本，

It worked for solar power;

我们以前就这样实现了太阳能，

it worked for wind;

风能的开发利用；

it can work for carbon removals, too.

怎么就不能应用到 碳移除项目的开发上呢？

Remember, we have to get to very big scale:

不要忘记，必须要形成足够的规模：

billions of tonnes of carbon removals by 2050.

到 2050 年实现几十亿吨的碳移除。

But we can all help by reducing our emissions as much as possible

但其实每个人都可以贡献一份力量， 我们可以尽可能减少碳排放，

and figuring out how to remove the rest.

想办法移除排放的碳。

I’m not talking conventional offsets.

我说的不是碳抵消这个老办法。

You know, I put a tonne of CO2 in the air,

碳抵消是这样，我向空气中 排放了 1 吨二氧化碳，

and I pay you not to put your tonne in the air,

我会花钱购买 你 1 吨的二氧化碳排放额，

but my tonne’s still there.

但是我那 1 吨二氧化碳 并没有因此就被清除了。

No, what I mean is I put a tonne of CO2 in the air,

我说的是，我排放 1 吨二氧化碳，

I pay someone to take a tonne out of the air, now or in the near future,

就花钱让人清除掉这 1 吨二氧化碳，

and we can get to zero and beyond.

这样我们就能实现“净零” 甚至比这还要好。

What goes up must now come down.

有排放就要有移除。

And if we all do that,

如果我们每个人都躬身践行，

if we all make that commitment,

作出承诺，

then the people trying to make removals happen will have the finance

那么碳移除技术的 开发者、研究者就有

and the courage

资本、勇气和信心。

and the confidence to be able to get to the scale that we need.

达成目标。

I don’t know which of all of these approaches,

我不知道

最终

in the end,

are going to be the ones that we’ll have to use

我们需要采取哪种方法

to get us to the scale we need.

来达成足够的规模。

But I do know that we’re going to need a whole spread of them,

但我知道我们必须 大规模推广这些技术，

with nature and technology working hand in hand

借助自然和科技的力量，

to take CO2 out of the sky

将二氧化碳从空气中

and keep it out.

永久移除。

Which brings me neatly back ...

自然而然就绕回到……

to the woolly pigs.

毛猪这个话题。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Now, these woolly pigs live on an estate on the Isle of Mull,

这些毛猪饲养在 苏格兰马尔岛的一所庄园，

which is owned by Jim Mann’s Future Forest Company.

归吉姆·曼恩 （Jim Mann）名下的

未来森林公司 （Future Forest Company）所有。

And I know they don’t look very dangerous,

我知道他们看起来 不是那么具有攻击性，

but they are actually the closest you can get

但实际上毛猪与

to a native Scottish wild boar

苏格兰本土野猪十分相近，

without having to have a dangerous animals license.

就差一个“危险动物”的吊牌了。

And they do what the Scottish wild boars used to do.

它们和苏格兰野猪习性相同。

They rootle up the undergrowth left over from selective grazing.

它们会拱起没有被啃食掉的灌木。

They let the seed bank come to the surface

将种子带出来，

so that native trees can start to grow

使得本土树木开始生长，

and start to take up CO2 from the sky.

同时吸收掉空气中的二氧化碳。

They're also planting trees in this lovely place.

这么美丽的地方还种植着树木，

Native broadleaf like oak and this beech tree,

有橡树和山毛榉之类本土的阔叶树。

and it’s plenty wet enough on the Isle of Mull

马尔岛上的山毛榉湿度很大，

that they’re not likely to burn.

基本上烧不起来。

So that’s so far, so natural

目前介绍的都是借助自然力量的技术。

But they also have machines.

但他们也用到了机器设备。

This one is getting ready to cook wood for biochar to go on the soils,

这个设备接下来会燃烧木头 制成可以置入土壤的生物炭，

and they’ve also got a quarry with basalt.

他们还有一个玄武岩开采场。

They’re quarrying basalt rock.

他们在开采玄武岩。

They’ve got machines to grind up the rock,

机器磨碎这些岩石后，

and they’ve got machines to spread it on the fields.

会将碎屑撒在土地上。

That's three carbon removals approaches in one beautiful place.

这样一个风景如画的地方 就用到了三种碳移除方法。

Now, it’s just one estate,

这仅仅是一个庄园，

but all of these approaches and more are hugely scalable.

这些方法、未来的方法都能规模化。

The world is full of places where you can plant trees

植树造林，

and put carbon in soil

封碳入土，

and grind up rock and spread it

磨碎岩石，遍撒碎屑，

and capture CO2 from the air

直接捕获，

and find places to store it underground.

存于地下，

All of those things.

世界上很多地方都能做到。

And there’s hundreds --

现在有成百上千——

thousands of people working right now

成千上万的人在努力，

to get those carbon removals approaches out of the textbook

将这些碳移除方法

and into practice,

付诸行动，

and to help us --

帮助人类——

God help us --

上天庇佑——

reverse the damage we have done

扭转残局，

and start the process of climate healing.

改善气候。

And when I sat on that hillside,

我喜欢坐在山坡上，

and I saw the pigs rootling

看着毛猪用鼻子拱土，

and the trees growing

看着树木生长，

and the machines getting ready to cook and grind,

看着这些设备

I loved it ...

真好……

because I experienced an emotion

因为我体会到了一种情感，

that those of us who work on climate change

一种气候变化工作者

very rarely experience.

鲜少体验过的情感。

I felt hope.

我感受到了希望。

Thank you.

谢谢大家。

(Applause and cheers)

（鼓掌声、欢呼声）