Comparing the nitrogen problem with the problem of CO2 emissions is apples to oranges IMO: - Nitrogen is very abundant in the atmosphere and bound nitrogen (i.

Comparing the nitrogen problem with the problem of CO2 emissions is apples to oranges IMO: - Nitrogen is very abundant in the atmosphere and bound nitrogen (i.e. fertilizer) has an inherent short-time value that is higher than the cost of nitrogen fixation (i.e. fertilizer production). So this is something that the market readily solves via technological progress. - On the other hand CO2 emissions result from extracting energy stored in fossil carbon. Currently a significant part of the energy needs of the whole planet are satisfied by extracting energy from fossil carbon (e.g. burning coal). Removing CO2 from the atmosphere does not have any short-time value to whomever does that. No market force working towards that. Also, removing the CO2 probably needs (depending on technoligy much) more energy than was extracted from the carbon in the first place. Humanity does not currently seem to have any energy sources available to "return" the energy havested from fossil carbon. Good luck waiting for a magical technology that can easily satisfy the energy needs of a whole planet-wide civilization with less negative side-effects than combustion of fossil carbon. Also the deadline for undoing CO2 related damage may be quite close [1] so that any such technologies would need to be available for global deployment within a few decades. - Climate engineering [2] may be a way to compensate CO2 related damage without having to remove CO2 at all. But again, no short-time benefit to whomever does that and all available technologies would also incur immense cost and do not evenly undo greenhouse-gas induced temperature changes over the whole planet (plus all the other possible side-effects) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipping_points_in_the_climate_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipping_points_in_the_climate_... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_engineering https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_engineering