In 2018, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a report warning of severe consequences if global climate change were allowed to continue unabated. To counteract this, IPCC’s report said, would require the U.S. and other major nations to set a course to achieve ‘net zero’ emissions by 2050 — meaning any emissions of carbon dioxide, a leading driver of climate change, would need to be balanced by an equal amount removed from the atmosphere.