New report shows carbon capture is key to Paris climate targets

Presented by the Royal Academy of Engineering and Royal Society, the report examined various methods of greenhouse gas removal (GGR) alongside their costs and impacts on land use. Even if greenhouse gas emissions are cut dramatically by 2050, it is estimated that 130 megatonnes of CO2 will need to be removed from the atmosphere to make the UK carbon neutral and mitigate the worst effects of climate change.

Achieving that target will require a range of measures, including forestation, soil carbon sequestration, building with biomass, and low-carbon concrete. However, the report states that more than half of the CO2 will need to be captured either via BECCS (biomass energy carbon capture and storage) or DACCS (direct air carbon capture and storage). Both technologies are in nascent stages of development and would likely need government support if they were to mature at the necessary rate.

“We must absolutely continue to prioritise rapid cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, but we will also have to use these GGR methods to achieve international climate goals, and steward the planet for future generations,” said Gideon Henderson FRS, Professor of Earth Science at the University of Oxford and chair of the report working group.