Advances in the utilisation of carbon-neutral technologies for a sustainable tomorrow: A critical review and the path forward

Global industrialisation and overexploitation of fossil fuels significantly impact greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in global warming and other environmental problems. Hence, investigations on capturing, storing, and utilising atmospheric CO₂ create novel technologies. Few microorganisms, microalgae, and macroalgae utilise atmospheric CO₂ for their growth and reduce atmospheric CO₂ levels. Activated carbon and biochar from biomasses also capture CO₂. Nanomaterials such as metallic oxides, metal-organic frameworks, and MXenes illustrate outstanding adsorption characteristics, and convert CO₂ to carbon-neutral fuels, creating a balance between CO₂ production and elimination, thus zeroing the carbon footprint. The need for a paradigm shift from fossil fuels and promising technologies on renewable energies, carbon capture mechanisms, and carbon sequestration techniques that help reduce CO₂ emissions for a better tomorrow are reviewed to achieve the world's sustainable development goals. The challenges and possible solutions with future perspectives are also discussed.