A new study has questioned existing projections of the rate of carbon storage required to avoid the potentially  harmful effects of global warming.

The study, which was conducted at Imperial College London by researchers from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering, calls the current estimates of 1–30 gigatonnes per year by 2050 “unfeasible”. Instead, in a paper entitled “The feasibility of reaching gigatonne scale CO² storage by mid-century” the researchers suggest that it would be more realistic to aim to store between six and sixteen gigatonnes of CO₂ per year.

According to lead author Yuting Zhang, the research team’s lower estimates take into account the lack of governmental and international support for large-scale carbon storage projects. Also, he explains, their model uses historical data and trends to examine carbon storage capacity, institutional capacity in different regions, and potential limitations to development.

As such, he says, they’re able to offer a more realistic approach for predicting how quickly carbon storage can be scaled up and are confident in the value of their new model as a tool for policymakers working on climate plans and target setting.

Access the full paper here.