Bio-CCS and Bio-CCUS in Climate Change Mitigation

Market and regulatory issues related to Bio-CC(U)S

Date 16th Jan, 2018 - 16th Jan, 2018
Location Albert Borschette Congress Center (CCAB), Room 1C, Rue Froissart 36, 1040 Brussels
Contact Kristin Onarheim
Email Send email

The IEA Bioenergy Task 41 Special Project on Bio-CCS and Bio-CCU is organising a workshop in cooperation with the Directorate General for Energy of the European Commission on market and regulatory issues related to Bio-CC(U)S.

Over the last three years we have seen a reduction in global CO2 emissions, mainly due to boosted implementation of renewable energy and actions taken as a result of the Paris Agreement. However, this positive trend is expected to reverse and total global CO2 emissions are projected to increase to around 2% by the end of this year. The targets set out by the Paris Agreement are stringent; limiting global temperature increase to 2°C while striving for 1.5°C and turning the world climate neutral during the latter half of this century. In order to reach these targets in such a short time frame is at best challenging. Both the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) call for solutions that lead to near-zero and negative emissions in order to reach these targets.

Currently, capture and permanent underground storage of biogenic CO2 (Bio-CCS) is the only technology that can provide negative CO2 emissions by extracting CO2 from the atmosphere on a large scale. In the current EU ETS biogenic CO2 emissions are recognized as neutral, which excludes for instance the forest industry sector from the emission trading system. Recognizing permanently stored biogenic CO2 emissions as negative, on the other hand, could incentivize the implementation of Bio-CCS and thus spur the overall implementation of CCS as a climate mitigation tool.

Utilisation of biogenic CO2 (Bio-CCU) does not have a direct GHG impact, but in the long run Bio-CCU could enable a more rapid electrification of carbon intensive industry and transport sectors. This again could lead to a system level reduction of CO2 emissions, especially if additional renewable electricity is used in CO2 conversion and thus introduced to the energy system. One of the major obstacles to enable sustainable Bio-CCU is the electricity source, which in practice dictates the CO2 emissions from Bio-CCU. As a result, sustainable Bio-CCU will be dependent on how the CO2 emissions from electricity generation are calculated.

The IEA Bioenergy Special Project on Bio-CCS and Bio-CCU in cooperation with the Directorate General of the European Commission have organised this workshop to address market and regulatory issues related to large-scale industrial implementation of Bio-CC(U)S as a climate mitigating tool. The whole-day workshop featured speakers from industry, policymaking, research and NGO’s allocated to four sessions; Background and introduction, Policy perspectives, Bio-CCS, and Bio-CCU. The workshop was rounded off with a panel discussion.

For further information please contact Kristin Onarheim (Kristin.onarheim@vtt.fi) or Kyriakos Maniatis (Kyriakos.maniatis@ec.europa.eu).

PRESENTATIONS:

Introduction to IEA Bioenergy

Kees W. Kwant, IEA Bioenergy

Session 1 Background and introduction

BECCS and BECCU in the IEA Bioenergy Roadmap

Adam Brown, IEA Bioenergy

Business Cases Based on Negative CO2 Emissions

Juha Lehtonen, Research Professor, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

Carbon Cycle of Forests and Climate Change Mitigation Potential

Aleksi Lehtonen, Natural Resources Institute Finland

Session 2 Policy perspectives

Gaps and Opportunities for BECCS/U in Current Policies from a Scientific View

Uwe R. Fritsche, Scientific Director, International Institute for Sustainability Analysis and Strategy (IINAS)

Legal Bottlenecks in Bio-CCS Regulation

Catherine Banet, Associate Professor, University of Oslo, Scandinavian Institute of Maritime Law, Department of Energy Law, Norway

Policy and Governance Challenges of Achieving Negative Emissions with BECCS 

Dr. Alison Mohr, Institute for Science and Society, University of Nottingham

Session 3 Bio-CCS

Carbon Capture from Waste-to-Energy in Oslo 

Johnny Stuen, Fortum Oslo Varme

Recent Developments for CCUS in The Netherlands

Gerdien Breembroek, Netherlands Enterprise Agency

Potential for Bio-CCS in the Pulp and Paper Industry

Kristin Onarheim, Research Scientist, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Ltd.

Delivering BioCCS

Dr. Chris Manson-Whitton, Director, Progressive Energy

Session 4 Bio-CCU

Company Perspective on Bio-CCUS in Forest Based Industries

Heikki Ilvespää, VP R&D, UPM-Kymmene

Bio-CCUS in the Paper Industry – Closing the Double Loop

Nicola Rega, Climate Change and Energy Director, CEPI European Paper Industry

Wide Horizons for Achieving Carbon Negativity Through CO2 Transport and Storage

Keith Whiriskey, Policy Manager Climate Technologies, Bellona Europa

Large Scale Micro Algae Production Plants as an Effective and Real Case of Bio-CCU Unit

Manuel Tárraga, Project Development Director, Buggypower