Temporary CO₂ removals can offset methane
Nature-based CO₂ removals with temporary effects, such as afforestation, are a key building block for effective climate protection because they can precisely offset the warming impact of methane. This is the conclusion of a new study by the Kiel Institute, now published in Nature Climate Change. Temporary CO₂ measures are also relatively inexpensive and easy to implement.
Nature-based CO₂ removals have recently come under strong criticism because they are not permanent: forests can burn and afforestation can be reversed. According to the study, however, this perceived “drawback” can be turned into a feature for effective climate action.
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Temporary carbon dioxide removals to offset methane emissions
Methane is the second most important driver of global warming after CO₂ and, particularly in agriculture, is difficult to avoid in the short term—yet its climate impact follows a very different pattern. While CO₂ remains in the atmosphere virtually permanently, methane causes a strong but short-lived warming pulse lasting around 30 years.
Building on this different “time signature,” the authors present a novel approach to climate mitigation in Nature Climate Change. The decisive factor for CO₂ removals, they argue, is temporal alignment: a 30-year removal project can almost mirror and offset the methane pulse.
For the first time, the authors quantify a precise relationship: 87 metric tons of temporarily stored CO₂ correspond to the climate impact of one metric ton of methane.
A new scientific basis for an old problem
“For climate policy, this approach opens up a new margin for action: temporary CO₂ removals relieve the climate precisely when it matters most—when methane causes the greatest damage,” says Wilfried Rickels, co-author of the study and Research Director at the Kiel Institute.
The findings also address long-standing challenges. Permanent CO₂ storage is expensive, difficult to verify, and shifts burdens from one generation to the next, as today’s emissions are effectively imposed on future generations. Temporary projects, by contrast, can be credibly monitored over 20 to 30 years, are more cost-effective, and do not require perpetual commitments.
Policy gains an immediately deployable tool
“Our results not only offer a new perspective on emissions trading and climate finance, but can also make a significant contribution to achieving the Paris climate goals: immediate temperature relief without long-term commitment risks,” Rickels adds.
