--- title: "Experts Worry a Landmark Report on Climate Change Will Call For Unrealistic Tech" description: "Experts say that the draft of an upcoming report on what the Earth needs to do to fight climate change leans on unrealistic \"unicorn solutions.\"" date: "2018-10-05" modified: "2018-10-05" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/report-climate-change-unrealistic-tech" categories: - "Climate Change" - "Environment" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "climate change" - "intergovernmental panel on climate change" - "South Korea" - "the digest" --- # Experts Worry a Landmark Report on Climate Change Will Call For Unrealistic Tech ![]() *\Image: Carbon Engineering\* ## Unicorn Tech On Monday, experts from 150 countries will release an important report detailing ways to keep global temperatures down in the face of climate change. Sounds like a good thing, right? Well, [not everyone]() is happy. That's because a draft of the report suggested that we would need to use huge machines that suck carbon out of the atmosphere to meet our climate goals. An unnamed expert familiar with the report told the *BBC* that such machines are "carbon unicorns" — implying that while, yes, they sound amazing in theory, they're simply unrealistic. ## Sci-Fi Solutions The purpose of this report, which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is currently drafting in South Korea, is to provide the international community with a roadmap it could follow to get the climate situation under control. We're facing an [uphill battle on that front](), so the IPCC may feel pressure to include a too-good-to-be-true solution in the document in an attempt to generate some optimism — or at least offer a path forward. Still, what we need are viable solutions, not "unicorns." Thankfully, the *BBC* reports that the IPCC's document will include some of those as well, such as planting more trees. And to be fair, the price of removing carbon from the air [is falling]() — though the technology needs far more work before it's a practical solution to our climate woes. **READ MORE: [Caution urged over use of 'carbon unicorns' to limit warming]()** \[*BBC*\] ***More on carbon capture: [Cheap Carbon Capture Technology Might Make Our Climate Goals Possible]()*** ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()