IMechE pushes for geo-engineering

The Institution of Mechanical Engineering (IMechE) is urging the UK government to support geo-engineering technologies that could help reduce CO₂ levels in the atmosphere.

In a report called ‘Geo-Engineering - Giving us time to act?’ the IMechE argues that current carbon-reduction initiatives are not working fast enough to mitigate climate change.

It claims that a combination of skills shortages and technologies that are ‘still a significant way from being ready’ will mean that the UK will fail to reach its target of an 80 per cent reduction in carbon by 2050.

The report proposes a climate change roadmap over the next 75 to 100 years, in which geo-engineering techniques are used to buy the country more time by removing large quantities of carbon from the atmosphere.

These techniques include the deployment of so-called artificial trees that use chemicals to replicate absorption of carbon dioxide. The device works by attracting CO₂ to a sorbent material on the ‘leaves’, which is then removed and buried underground in the same way as conventional carbon capture and storage (CCS).