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Scientists have said that planting trees, restoring wetlands and using chemicals to remove carbon dioxide from the air will be needed to reduce UK greenhouse gas emissions.
If these measures are taken urgently, they could make a sufficient contribution to make the United Kingdom "net zero" in terms of carbon emissions by 2050. However, a major program to implement them would be needed urgently.
"We will have to eliminate greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and look for ways to stop emitting as much," said Nilay Shah, head of chemical engineering at Imperial College's London and member of the report working group. "The very first thing to do is reduce emissions by 2050. If we make every effort to decarbonise energy and emissions from building, transport and industry, we can reduce emissions to 130 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. (MtCO2e) by 2050 against 450 MtCO2e today.
The remaining 130 million tonnes "are very difficult to eliminate," Shah said, partly because of activities such as agriculture and aviation, which are difficult to decarbonize. This left a void that could only be filled by removing the greenhouse gases from the air.
In a joint report on the elimination of greenhouse gases, the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering found that the increase in the United Kingdom's forest area to 5% of the area could play a major role. At the same time, farmers could be encouraged by incentives or subsidies to use their land to store carbon through better farming methods. Restoring natural features such as wetlands and marshes would also allow for more carbon storage.
Construction companies should also be encouraged to use wood, which is a natural carbon stock, and cement can be made with carbon dioxide waste to offset emissions from its production.
However, although these measures together would account for about a quarter of the carbon reductions needed, technologies to extract carbon from the air would also be needed, according to the scientists.
This could be achieved by capturing carbon emissions at the source, for example in power plants. The use of bioenergy, such as wood, plants and waste, while capturing the resulting carbon dioxide is technically possible and should be pursued, the scientists insisted. But they said other methods, such as direct air capture, would also be needed.
Direct air capture usually involves chemical processes called "washing," which means the use of compounds that react with carbon dioxide in the air to form new chemicals that can be removed. safely, blocking the carbon. Although washing is commonly used to remove other emissions, such as sulfur-containing coal emissions, it is difficult to use it to remove carbon from the air and this can be expensive. .
The report found that by economically encouraging the use of direct air capture, a price should be put on carbon dioxide, probably up to $ 100 a tonne.
Richard Black, director of the Energy and Climate Unit, called the report "critically important" for the low carbon future of the UK. "This shows that the UK can reduce its carbon emissions to zero by mid-century and that it can do so at an affordable price," he said. "On the contrary, he overestimated the amount of negative emissions that the UK will need, and nevertheless concludes that we can deliver."
He highlighted an important report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change next month, which should allow the world to achieve net emissions by 2050 to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. After this report, the UK Government's official advisers, the Climate Change Committee, will provide formal advice on how the UK can achieve this goal.
Black said, "This report, showing that it is possible [to achieve net zero emissions], could not have come at a more opportune time. "
The direct capture of carbon dioxide by air is different from the forms of carbon capture and storage (CCS) associated with power plants, which have been targeted in the past. Over the last decade, the UK has developed carbon capture and storage technologies that focus on reducing carbon emissions from fossil fuel plants and storing them under the North Sea. However, the previous government terminated these projects and the UK no longer has pilot projects for the capture and storage of carbon from power plants, although other countries have advanced projects. innovative.
Shah said that the CCS for power plants would also be needed, in addition to direct air capture, if the UK was to continue using fossil fuels. These plants could all share the same transportation and storage infrastructure, which would reduce costs.
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