Negative emissions—Part 3: Innovation and upscaling

Summary

This systematic review examines the innovation literature on negative emissions technologies (NETs) by coding articles across sequential stages of technology development and commercialisation. The authors find that 59% of NET articles focus on early-stage research and development, with 83% of all literature emphasising supply-side innovation (technology development) rather than demand-side factors (policy, public acceptance, market mechanisms). The study concludes that urgent scaling is required between 2030 and 2050 to meet climate targets, yet the literature and policy landscape substantially underappreciate this timeline pressure and the critical role of heterogeneous user adoption.

UK applicability

The findings are relevant to UK climate and energy policy, particularly regarding the role of NETs in meeting net-zero commitments by 2050. The identified gaps in demand-side innovation and public engagement literature suggest that UK policy development should prioritise understanding adoption barriers, regulatory frameworks, and social licence-to-operate for NET deployment—areas currently underrepresented in the research base.

Key measures

Proportion of NET articles by innovation stage; share of supply-side vs. demand-side literature; technology-specific variation (BECCS vs. direct air capture); comparison with integrated assessment model deployment timelines

Outcomes reported

The study systematically coded peer-reviewed literature on negative emissions technologies (NETs) across innovation process stages and identified the distribution of research effort across supply-side (R&D, demonstrations, scale-up) versus demand-side (policy, public acceptance, niche markets) innovation factors. The analysis revealed critical gaps between the current research emphasis and the urgent timeline required for NET deployment to meet 1.5–2°C climate targets.

Topic tags