Summary/Abstract
This is the United States Democratic Party’s draft policy platform that includes sections on the potential role of carbon dioxide removal/negative emissions technologies to combat climate change. The draft’s climate section contains a number of provisions pertinent to carbon dioxide removal/negative emissions approaches, including the following:
- In seeking to develop a “thriving, equitable, and globally competitive clean energy economy,” the United States should seek to “develop and manufacture next-generation technologies to address the climate crisis …” [p.44]. These technologies include “direct air capture and net-negative emissions technologies,” as well as “carbon capture and sequestration that permanently stores greenhouse gases …” [p. 48). The platform also calls for support for “the most historically far-reaching public investments and private sector incentives for research, development, demonstration, and employment of next-generation technologies …” [p. 48];
- In pursuit of the objective of eliminating power plant carbon pollution by 2035 to “reach net-zero emissions as rapidly as possible [and no later than by 2050],” decarbonization strategies should include carbon capture and storage [p. 45];
- In the context of the agricultural sector, the platform calls for a partnership to help farmers develop new sources of income including through, inter alia, lower-emission, and regenerative agricultural practices.” [p.47]
- The platform calls for the planting of “millions of trees” in urban areas to “help reduce heat stress.” [p. 47]