Introduction

This report was commissioned by the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme (IEA GHG) to assist the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF) task force in the assessment of international graduate degrees at MSc and PhD level on Carbon Capture Storage and Carbon Management for universities. The acronym CCSM is used hereinafter to Carbon Dioxide Capture, Storage, and Carbon Management while CCS is specifically used for Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage only.

The scope of this report is to identify academic perspectives and programs in the areas of CCS and Carbon Management currently available in the United Kingdom (UK). The information assembled in this report was sought from the internet, email contacts and visiting key universities in CCSM in the UK. This report addresses the major findings and discusses the current landscape of CCSM education in the UK.

Disclaimer: The information assembled in this report was summarised and it does not serve the purpose of advertising any of the individual programs available in the UK. For all intents and purposes, this report neither provides an assessment of the quality of courses available nor does it serve as guidance for entry requirements in any of the institutions mentioned.

Conclusions and Recommendations

The number of postgraduate degrees and short courses in CCSM in the UK is limited, and mainly focusing on carbon management. The University of Edinburgh offers a Masters of Carbon Capture and Storage led by the School of GeoSciences, in which carbon storage is a major component. The UNBL consortium offers an Engineering Doctorate (Industrial) in carbon dioxide capture aiming at graduating 50 Engineering Doctorates in the next 7 years. Another interesting alliance is the European consortium of the Universities of Edinburgh (UK), Versailles St-Quentin (France) and Bergen (Norway) which offers PERICLES (Postdoctoral European Masters Formation on Interactions between Climate, Environment and Society). The CCS postgraduate degrees surveyed have interdisciplinary contents including subjects in the areas of economics, social, political and environment. These subjects are also core in the carbon management degrees. Nevertheless, it is observed that “Regulations and Law” and “Risk Analysis” were not covered in the surveyed programs.

It is recommended that these areas are considered for future Masters Curricula in CCSM.

The majority of the postgraduate programs surveyed include the conventional course delivery per semester and requiring a dissertation, which can be replaced by an industrial project or industrial research. This delivery mode may suit full time students. More flexible modes include intensive two week courses, attending seminars and summer schools, which are tailored to part time students. CCSM postgraduate degrees offered as a Masters or Doctorate levels have exit options for awards as postgraduate certificate or diploma.

There has been a good mobilisation from the private sector and universities in offering short courses in CCSM. In terms of carbon storage, the Scottish Centre for Carbon Capture has two short courses dealing with CO2 injection and storage, and in particular focusing on the education of engineers on carbon storage. No short courses were found in carbon dioxide capture, and the majority of the other short courses available are mainly on carbon footprint, and potentially addressing new guidelines and standards (PA2050 and ISO 14067).

In addition, mention should be made that from a base in the UK the IEA GHG organises an annual International CCS Summer School. This is hosted at different locations worldwide each time; Germany, Canada and Australia in the first three years. This course offers an intensive week in all aspects of CCS, from capture to storage, and non-technical topics such as economics, policy, regulation, safety and public communication..