Matt McGrath is an environment correspondent.
Image source, Matt CardyUN scientists are likely to make a decision on removing CO2 from the atmosphere.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will consider this idea over the next two weeks.
Government officials from all over the world will need to approve every line in the summary report.
It will be published on April 4.
Over the past eight months, there have been three important reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The previous two looked at the causes and impacts of climate change, but this one will focus on what we can do to stop it.
Researchers will look at how we can reduce the amount of warming gases we emit.
Image source, HALLDOR KOLBEINSThe co-chair says the report will look at ways of removing CO2 that is already in the atmosphere.
We have a lot more carbon dioxide removal material. Prof Jim Skea, from Imperial College, London, said that it was not putting carbon into the atmosphere but getting it out again.
The full spectrum of carbon dioxide removal approaches, which vary hugely, and the carbon dioxide that is removed can end up in very different stores, was covered in the report. It was within the scope of the report to cover the whole lot.
The kind of carbon removal approaches the report will consider will likely include tree planting and agriculture, as well as the more advanced technological approaches that use large machines to remove the carbon from the air.
They will look at combined approaches, where land is used to grow crops which can be burned for energy while the carbon is captured and buried.
The use of technology is controversial. There are concerns that technology could be seen as an excuse not to make the major changes in energy production that are needed, as well as doubts that they can be made to work economically.
Scientists say that the situation is so serious that carbon dioxide removal will be needed in addition to massive cuts in emissions and not as a substitute for them.
The short summary for policymakers that will be published in two weeks will depend on delicate negotiations with government representatives from 195 countries.
The final text will be agreed on by researchers and officials.
Image source, FABRICE COFFRINIThere are concerns that the war in Ukraine might affect the meeting, with representatives from both Russia and Ukraine due to take part.
Prof Skea said that they had been running informal meetings with governments to brief them before the actual approval session.
I would be hopeful that we would get full participation.
The social aspects of cutting carbon will be the focus of the new report, part of a regular review of the science dating back to 1990.
The chapter looks at the social science perspective of demand, and what motivates individual consumers, communities, businesses, to make responsible consumption, reduction, design and investment choices.
Responsible production and consumption are also within the scope of this chapter, and we have been asked to look into what are the drivers of behavior change.
There will be a lot of focus on short term actions that governments can take in the remaining years of this decade to keep the rise in global temperatures under 1.5C.
The scale of emissions cuts may need to be revised upwards after the pandemic and the likely ramping up of fossil fuel use in the wake of the conflict in Ukraine.
If urgent action is taken, there is hope that the worst impacts of climate change can be avoided.
Image source, NurPhotoProf Skea says the summary won't be doom and gloom.
The activities of humans have caused climate change, but human beings also have the agency to do something about it.
That is a big part of the messaging for the report.
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