This panel session was jointly moderated by Sean McCoy (University of Calgary) and Susan Hovorka (University of Texas). The panellists included Gaelle Cauchois (Carbon Limits), Rachael Moore (IEA), Jose Benitez (USDOE), and Jon Gibbins (University of Sheffield). The panels used a very interactive format, posing questions to the attendees, whic...

This second 4 day conference on negative emissions technologies (NETs) opened on 14th June, with more than 275 in-person and 40 online attendees. It is hosted by Chalmers University of Technology in the Swedish city of Gothenburg. The varied content and key speakers with expertise in NETs highlight the growing importance that NETs have in reaching ...

On 8 March 2022, the IEA published their flagship report "Global Energy Review: CO2 Emissions in 2021". The report provides a rather bleak summary of the missed opportunities for a green and sustainable recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic so far. The key messages are the following: Energy-related CO2 emissions grew to 36.3 Gt in 2021, a record high...

The aim of this study is to provide a transparent framework to evaluate the potential (in terms of sequestered and displaced carbon), and economics (in terms of cost of carbon avoided and removed) of a non-exhaustive selection of NETs pathways. Ecosystem and socio-economic impacts associated with their deployment is also quantified. The study sets ...

Direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS) has some advantages over other negative emissions technologies (NETs). NETs interacting with biomass, such as afforestation, soil carbon storage and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), require significant water and arable land. Other chemical NETs, such as enhanced weathering, risk changi...

A range of carbon dioxide capture technologies have been developed, including amine-based routes and calcium looping methods, some of which are now considered to be at technology readiness level (TRL) 9. These technologies have been deployed across the world in large-scale carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) projects, permanently storing...

CO2 can be transformed into a wide range of value-added products, acting as an alternative carbon source to fossil carbon. These CO2 'conversion' utilisation routes are of increasing interest due to considerations related to climate change, avoidance of fossil fuels, and the circular economy. Carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) uses CO2 captured f...

The IPCC has finalized the first part of the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), 'Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis', the Working Group I (WGI) contribution to AR6. It was finalized on 6th August 2021 during the 14th Session of Working Group I and 54th Session of the IPCC. This report from IPCC's WGI is their update on the science of clima...

This report builds upon previous IEAGHG studies on the topic of carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) (IEAGHG 2018a, IEAGHG 2018b, IEAGHG 2018c, IEAGHG 2019), all having been carried out by Carbon Counts. First, an update on recent CCU policy developments is set out. Second, previous research and analysis is assembled into a model – the Greenhouse G...

Negative emissions technologies (NETs) feature in many climate models that comply with 2°C scenarios; and efforts to aim towards a 1.5°C target, as outlined in the Paris Agreement, have drawn further attention to the need for options that reduce the overall stock of emissions in the atmosphere. Negative emissions are also an important tool for offs...

Notwithstanding the perceived 'overreliance' on BECCS that I mentioned in my previous blog, interest in BECCS pathways is still strong, as the two full sessions on the topic at GHGT-15 show. Mathilde Fajardy presented the results of a study, which explored cost-optimal deployment of BECCS over time in five regions: Brazil, China, EU, India and USA....

GHGT-15 has seen two sessions on direct air capture (DAC), which is pleasing to see and underlines the importance of the extension of GHG mitigation/reduction portfolios, triggered by a perceived 'overreliance' on certain options like bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) in models and scenarios. Gabriel Vézina presented on integrated D...

A few months prior to the Paris Agreement, in September 2015 'Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development' was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. This resolution, consisting of 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), covering a wide range of human development areas and broader environmental sustainability issue...

IEAGHG's 55th Executive Committee (ExCo) Meeting took place last week in Helsinki, Finland. After two days of fruitful discussions and excellent Finnish hospitality, attendees were able to visit Neste's Porvoo refinery, which is located in the Kilpilahti industrial area.  The crude oil refining capacity in Porvoo is approximately 10.5 Mt/a (eq...

GHGT-14 kicked off this morning with one of the keynotes giving the delegates an overview of the recently published IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C (SR1.5). The presentation was delivered by none other than the IPCC's Vice Chair, Dr Thelma Krug. Dr Krug first presented the statistics of the report, which was prepared by 91 authors an...

 The high temperature solid looping cycles (HTSLC) network meeting covers technology developments in fields where a solid material is cycled between multiple reactors at elevated temperatures. The scope of the IEAGHG HTSLC Network is to discuss recent progress in solids looping cycles such as calcium looping and sorption enhanced reforming for...

​CO2 capture from natural gas (NG) can be done by several technologies, e.g. solvent scrubbing, membranes, adsorption or cryogenic processes. The future demand in NG might trigger development of NG fields with high CO2 partial pressure, for which pressure swing adsorption (PSA) processes could be more suitable than the other options. Besides, PSA p...

 It is important for power plants to be able to operate flexibly to respond to changes in consumer demand for electricity. Flexibility is also becoming increasingly important due to the greater use of other low carbon generation technologies, particularly variable renewable generators. The issue of operating flexibility of power plants with ca...

 The Faraday Discussion on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) took place 18-20th July in Sheffield, UK. This unique meeting format (more on this in a moment) was organised by the Faraday Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and supported by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE). The scientific committee consisted of Paul Fen...

 'Unburnable carbon' refers to fossil fuel reserves that cannot be used and the resulting greenhouse gases emitted if the world has a limited 'carbon budget'. This situation leads to the question: what role does technology have in addressing these concepts and concerns related to them? The International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Intergovernm...