Toronto, Sep 25 (IANS) Capturing carbon directly from the air is the only way to prevent dangerous climate changes, says a pioneering Canadian scientist.

University of Calgary scientist David Keith says governments need to earmark more research funding for technologies to capture carbon dioxide in surrounding air to save the planet. Keith has successfully tested an air capture technology last year. The market for carbon capture technologies is estimated to reach $1 billion a year within 20 years.

In a paper published in Science journal Thursday, he says technology could efficiently reduce carbon dioxide emissions from sources such as airplanes and home furnaces.

The Canadian scientist says these "mobile'' and "diffuse'' sources (including homes and airplanes) account for more than half of the greenhouse gases emitted on the plant.

"Over the long run, the ability to remove carbon dioxide from the air should be viewed as an essential tool in our kit for managing carbon-climate risks,'' says Keith, who hold the Canada Research Chair in Energy and the Environment.

"We need, at the minimum, a serious long-term exploratory research effort to develop air capture along with other direct methods for removing CO2 from the atmosphere,'' he adds.

According to Keith, air capture technology also offers the possibility of turning the captured carbon dioxide into carbon-neutral synthetic fuels for vehicles, to reduce vehicle emissions.

Air capture plants also might be built where the costs of construction and operation are cheap, and near the best sites for permanently storing the captured carbon dioxide underground, he says.

For the short term, he advocates efforts to limit the risks of climate change by focusing on reducing industrial and other sources of carbon emissions.For the long term, he says air capture technology offers a way to reduce carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, to manage otherwise irreversible risks of climate change.