Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in hard-to-abate sectors

Many countries have made a commitment to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by or around 2050. If some sectors have residual emissions, these must be compensated for by removing CO2 from the air and storing it. This can be done, for example, through large-scale reforestation or the use of biomass in combination with CO2 capture and storage. These measures involve risks, in particular for food security and biodiversity. An important conclusion from PBL’s study Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in hard-to-abate sectors, published in cooperation with Utrecht University, is therefore that far more effort must be made globally to reduce emissions in the sectors where this is most difficult: industry, the built environment, agriculture, aviation and shipping. The aim of the study was to map out why it is difficult to reduce emissions in the sectors mentioned above, which measures can be taken to reduce emissions as much as possible in these sectors, and use scenarios to explore the impact of these measures on reducing the need to remove CO2 from the atmosphere.