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UPDATED 1 Sept: The EI library in London is temporarily closed to the public, as a precautionary measure in light of the ongoing COVID-19 situation. The Knowledge Service will still be answering email queries via email , or via live chats during working hours (09:15-17:00 GMT). Our e-library is always open for members here: eLibrary , for full-text access to over 200 e-books and millions of articles. Thank you for your patience.
UK Government supports R&D into greenhouse gas removal
Research teams across the UK have been chosen to probe innovative ways of removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere to help to stabilise the climate.
A dozen universities will benefit from funding for nearly five years in the government’s largest-ever programme to study and scale-up greenhouse gas removal (GGR) techniques.
Unlike techniques to reduce emissions at source, GGR aims to capture and remove CO2 and other greenhouse gases already in the air. Achieving net zero requires dramatic reductions in emissions, but it also requires GGR.
An Oxford-led consortium – named CO2RE – of five universities will coordinate the national programme. The CO2RE Hub will have a strong research function and will also liaise with the demonstrators, business and policymakers to evaluate a variety of approaches to removal.
Partners in the hub are the Universities of Edinburgh, Bristol, Leeds and Manchester, together with University College London and Imperial College London.
GGR Demonstrator projects include:
- afforestation, to assess the most effective species and locations for carbon sequestration at sites across the UK, including land owned by the Ministry of Defence, the National Trust and Network Rail;
- use of biochar as a method of carbon sequestration – testing will take place at arable in the Midlands and Wales, a sewage disposal site in Nottinghamshire and an opencast coal mine in Cumbria; and
- rapid scale-up of perennial bioenergy crops such as grasses (Miscanthus) and short rotation coppice willow at locations in Lincolnshire and Lancashire.
- Meanwhile, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has awarded £167mn in new funding to innovators, businesses, academics and heavy industry across the UK with projects to accelerate the delivery of technologies in carbon capture, greenhouse gas removal and hydrogen, while also helping find solutions to decarbonise the UK’s most polluting sectors.
Commitments include:
- £60mn to support the development of low carbon hydrogen and to identify and scale-up more efficient solutions for making clean hydrogen from water using electricity;
- £20mn to support the development of the next generation of carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) technologies so they can be deployed at scale by 2030;
- £20mn to establish a new virtual Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre;
- £16mn through the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund to develop new technologies and processes that help energy-intensive sectors cut their emissions.
News Item details
Journal title: Energy World
Countries: UK -
Organisation: HM Government
Subjects: Research and development, Greenhouse gases, Investment
