This chapter illustrates how to put a regenerative strategy into action by introducing a pioneering business case. The company Carbon Engineering is developing cutting-edge technologies, such as Direct Air Capture and AIR TO FUELS, to capture, sequester and, more importantly, apply captured carbon dioxide in the production of synthetic fuel, carrying out a regenerative strategy. Through a qualitative research design, we show how this company (1) demonstrates explorer and prospector behaviour, going beyond the reduction of emissions to achieve net zero and even net negative emissions, or positive environmental externalities; (2) redefines its purpose, vision and mission, passing from a profit-only logic to systemic socioecological resilience through eco-emotional wealth and environmental performance; (3) develops a new, wider form of stakeholder management to engage market and fringe stakeholders; and finally (4) frames a new time perspective, the long- and very long-term view that sustainable development requires – an intra- and intergenerational commitment.

Aside from implementing WWS and storage technologies, the main suggestions for reducing or eliminating energy-related emissions have included using natural gas for electricity instead of coal, using natural gas or coal with carbon capture, using nuclear power instead of fossil fuels for electricity, using biomass with or without carbon capture for electricity, using liquid biofuels instead of gasoline or diesel for transportation, and using blue instead of green hydrogen. Non-energy-producing methods have also been proposed to remediate global warming. These include primarily synthetic direct air carbon capture and geoengineering. Policies that include these technologies along with WWS technologies are referred to as “all-of-the-above” policies, since they involve promoting most all technologies, regardless of their side effects, cost, effectiveness, or length of time between planning and operation. The justification for using these technologies is that they are a bridge between current carbon-intense technologies and WWS. This chapter discusses these non-WWS technologies and delineates the reasons why they are not needed or helpful for solving global warming, air pollution, and energy security problems.

The top priority in addressing climate change is to reduce net emissions of greenhouse gases to zero as swiftly as possible. Among the policy instruments for achieving this goal: carbon markets and carbon taxes; subsidies and incentives for energy conservation and for developing renewable energy technologies; building a new network of advanced nuclear reactors to provide carbon-free energy; imposing restraints on deforestation and planting large numbers of new trees; developing powerful new technologies for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere; incentivizing private citizens to reduce the carbon footprint of their lifestyles; and introducing new governmental policies for decarbonizing national economies. By combining all these strategies, humankind could realistically reach net zero emissions by the middle years of this century. From that point forward, it can start actively removing existing accumulations of carbon dioxide, eventually bringing global warming to a halt and reversing some of the damage that’s already been done.

The final carbon capture chapter focuses on DACCS and notes that due to difficulties in remediating ongoing emissions from recalcitrant economic sectors such as aviation, long-distance transport, agriculture, and waste streams, DACCS will almost certainly be necessary simply to get to net zero emissions. However, if by then temperatures are unacceptably high, DACCS will be required on an utterly massive scale to reduce atmospheric carbon concentrations. The mechanics of DACCS are quite similar to those required for flue gas capture, but the much reduced concentration of carbon in ambient air elevates the cost of DACCS substantially. While there remains material uncertainty as to the mature cost of DACCS, the size of a future DACCS industry needed to substantially reduce future atmospheric CO2 concentrations would rival the size of the fossil fuel industry today. The three leading companies in the DACCS field are reviewed to illustrate the promising but nascent status of this industry today.

Climate–sincere citizens are frustrated with three decades of global and national failures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, so they are receptive to arguments that they can make a difference by various means, one of which is to make an offset payment to someone else to reduce emissions while they continue to cause emissions when, for example, flying in an airplane. Unfortunately, research shows that a significant percentage of so–called offsets do not reduce emissions from what they otherwise would have been. Instead, offset payments are made to someone for doing something they would have done without the payment. Climate-concerned citizens would have greater impact if they instead made their offset payments to help elect climate–sincere politicians and to make sure that these politicians implement policies that require ezveryone to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, not just the people who buy offsets.