CO<sub>2</sub> Sequestration\nTechnologies May Undermine\nChina’s Sustainable Development Goals through the Climate-Energy-Air-Health\nCascade

CO<sub>2</sub> sequestration technologies (CSTs) allow\nfor increased\nCO<sub>2</sub> emissions without exceeding a chosen temperature limit\nby creating additional carbon budgets. While these CO<sub>2</sub> sequestration\ntechnologies offer low-cost routes to net-zero emissions, namely,\nthe CST benefits, they impede progress to the Sustainable Development\nGoals, namely, the CST disbenefits. Focusing on China, we assess both\nthe CST disbenefits and benefits in the climate-energy-air-health\ncascade by an integrated modeling framework. We show that, CST can\nsave 4.98–15.65 trillion CNY in achieving net-zero emissions\nwhile compromising the sustainability on non-fossil energy penetration,\nair quality, and public health improvement, leading to a substantial\nloss up to 7.82 trillion CNY during 2020–2060. Given the high\nlikelihood of a large-scale deployment of CSTs in the future, pursuing\npolicy coherence that balances trade-offs between CST disbenefits\nand benefits is vital. To that end, CSTs should be allocated to power\nsectors as a priority and stringent end-of-pipe equipment should be\nretrofitted into non-power sectors before CST allocation.