Bioenergy carbon capture: climate snake oil or the 1.5-degree panacea?

With the release of the latest special report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, it’s time we talk frankly about Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Sequestration, known as BECCS. It is one of the key technologies many models say we will need to limit warming to 1.5℃.

Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Sequestration, known
 as BECCS, is one of the technologies we may need to
limit warming to 1.5 degrees.

BECCS involves growing plants which remove carbon dioxide as they grow and are then burned in power stations to produce electricity. The resulting carbon dioxide from this combustion is captured and stored underground. The result is carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere.

It is the not-so-high-tech wonder many are waiting for, but it comes at a high price. It also risks delaying policies that actually reduce emissions in the first place

Read the piece from The Conversation by the Assistant Professor of Energy and Environmental Change from Leiden University, Paul Behrens - “Bioenergy carbon capture: climate snake oil or the 1.5-degree panacea?”

Research finds a hidden carbon sink in the soils beneath our feet

Research on grasslands in Ireland, supervised by Prof Gary Lanigan (Teagasc – the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority) and Prof Rachel Creamer and Prof Rogier Schulte (Wageningen University & Research) has revealed that soils with high clay content in deeper layers lock away carbon for much longer, and at much greater depth than previously known. Publishing their results in Nature scientific-reports/” title=”View all articles about Scientific Reports here”>Scientific Reports, the authors demonstrate how these soils may play a prominent role in mitigating climate change and compensating for some of the greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.

Carbon storage in deeper soil layers may play a prominent role in mitigating climate change and compensating for some of the greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. In the upper layer of the soil (upper part of the graph), the carbon is mostly linked to large soil particles (right side of the graph). This carbon is easily accessible for e.g. insects and microbes, causing a fast conversion into carbon dioxide. The lower layers of the soil (lower part of the graph) contain more carbon than expected. This carbon is linked to small soil particles (left side of the graph) and is therefore hard to get to for soil organisms, causing the carbon to remain in the soil for many decades. 

It is well known that all soils play an important role in the global cycle of carbon: soils store three times the amount of carbon that is contained within the atmosphere, and can be either a source of carbon emissions through land degradation, or a sink through the fixation of carbon into soils, a process known as sequestration. The Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) acknowledges the role of soils in climate mitigation through the 4per1000 initiative.

Read the Science and Technology Research News story - “Research finds a hidden carbon sink in the soils beneath our feet.”

Passing a 'tipping point' and turning to wide-eyed solutions

Those who understand the mechanics of earth’s climate have declared that humanity’s survival was inextricably linked to keeping carbon dioxide levels below 350 parts per million (ppm).

Once beyond that mark, the positive feedbacks became such that humans had passed what is colloquially known as the “tipping point” – that moment when mitigation opportunities had vanished and all that remained was adaptation using hitherto untried and untested processes such as carbon capture and sequestration and wide-eyed geo-engineering schemes.

The hoped for 350ppm ideal is now little more than a dream for CBS news reports that CO2 levels are now above 400ppm.

Writing in a story headed: “First time in 800 000 years: April’s CO2 levels above 400ppm”, CBS said the level was above the 400ppm level for the entire month.