Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas industrialized countries have been tasked with reducing to promote the planet’s environmental health. In an ideal scenario, carbon dioxide would create another chemical that could provide an economic incentive to limit the amount released into the atmosphere.
A research team in the United States has discovered a new electrocatalyst that converts carbon dioxide and water into ethanol, cheaply, and efficiently. If this becomes a common way to reuse carbon dioxide, what might happen in the future?
This story world assumes the process of converting carbon dioxide to ethanol has a high initial investment. That would mean only the wealthiest countries would have access to the technology; they could take the hit before seeing a return on their investment. This would create a gap between those who could afford the electrocatalyst use on a large scale and those who could not.
Spinning this further, only a limited number of countries could begin to profit from the mandatory reduction of greenhouse gasses. These countries would then create ever-larger spheres of influence, which could be the background needed to develop a three-country power share across the world, similar to 1984.
This story would be about one man’s experience traveling between the two states as a diplomat but, in fact, a planted spy. This would be similar to a cold-war spy thriller, complete with forces within the country tasked with uncovering the true nature of the man’s work, secret codes, and hidden true beliefs.
The twist could come when the spy flips sides, after realizing the people on the other side of the border are the same as him. It could continue in the first country, where they are suspicious of him as soon as he returns.
The end could see the spy going to the third country, then approached once more. Future books could see this spy working for the third country, training new spies, or helping a recently de-stabilized government set up it’s own intelligence operations.
