Special report | Negative emissions
Why the world needs negative emissions
If negative emissions are to play a role in policy much more needs to be done to make them practically achievable
THIRTY KILOMETRES down the road from Reykjavik, the Hellisheiði geothermal power plant sits amid black boulders draped in phosphorescent green moss. Behind its plumes of rising steam, steep mountains sweep up from the rocky plain. Boulders and mountains alike are made of basalt, as is some 90% of the rest of Iceland. It is a 300trn tonne sawn-off tree stump of basalt sitting on the floor of the Atlantic—which is itself just more basalt. There is no commoner rock in Earth’s crust.
This article appeared in the Special report section of the print edition under the headline “If I could turn back time”
From the October 30th 2021 edition
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