Artificial photosynthesis: A pathway to solar fuels

The urgent need to address climate change has motivated an international effort to rapidly decarbonize our world’s energy systems. In its most recent report,¹ the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change outlined the challenges we face. It articulates a two-part strategy: First, move away from reliance on fossil fuels as soon as possible, primarily by the electrification of large sectors of our economy. Second, capture carbon from the atmosphere to mitigate the warming associated with greenhouse gas emissions. During that effort, large sectors of the economy will likely remain difficult to decarbonize. For example, future long-haul aviation will continue to require hydrocarbon fuel.² For such sectors, a circular carbon economy will need to be established, in which the use of hydrocarbon fuels is balanced by carbon capture and conversion.