UN expert group demands carbon capture - report

The imminence and severity of the problems posed by the accelerating changes in the global climate are becoming increasingly evident. Heat waves are becoming more severe, droughts and downpours are becoming more intense, the Greenland Ice Sheet is shrinking and sea level is rising, and the increasing acidification of the oceans is threatening calcifying organisms. The environment and the world’s societies are facing increasing stress.

This evidence was established by the landmark Fourth Assessment Report from the IPCC on the scientific evidence for global warming (earlier post). Now comes another report to the UN which goes a step further – making specific recommendations to combat climate change.

The report lays down a roadmap emphasising immediate action including a specific call for regulations of all new coal-fired power plants.

“Confronting Climate Change: Avoiding the unmanageable and managing the unavoidable” [*pdf, 13MB] has been drafted by a panel of 18 scientists from 11 nations, commissioned by the private United Nations Foundation and the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society.

The 166-page, two-year report says that, to avoid the impacts of global warming that humans would find “intolerable” and “unmanageable”, temperature rises should be limited to 2-2.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial levels of 1750. This is below the 3-degrees C rise outlined in the IPCC report as the best guess for what we can expect this century without significant emissions abatement.

“It is still possible to avoid an unmanageable degree of climate change, but the time for action is now,” said John Holdren, a report author, Harvard professor and chairman of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This would require “very rapid success in reducing emissions of methane and black soot worldwide, global carbon dioxide emissions level off by 2015 or 2020 before beginning a decline to no more than a third of that level by 2100”.

The report calls for:

• mandatory vehicle emissions standards and incentives for alternative fuel vehicles
• laws to expand biofuels use and production
• an overhaul of building codes for residential and commercial buildings to increase energy efficiency
• accelerated negotiations toward a post-Kyoto global framework for cutting emissions
• greater help to developing countries to adopt clean energy technology

Carbon capture and storage
But the most specific recommendation is that building new coal power stations from now on be only allowed if geared towards carbon capture and storage (CCS):
biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: climate change :: global warming :: fossil fuels :: carbon dioxide :: carbon capture and storage :: bio-energy with carbon storage :: IPCC :: United Nations ::

“Beginning immediately, designing and deploying only coal-fired power plants that will be capable of cost-effective and environmentally-sound retrofits for capture and sequestration of their carbon emissions,” the report demands.

The report’s authors say global investment in clean energy technology needs to be tripled to US$45 billion.

According to the International Energy Agency, global coal use will rise by 60 per cent by 2030. A major amendment to the London Protocol has just come into force to allow carbon dioxide to be sequestered under the sea-bed.

Bio-Energy with Carbon Storage
CCS can be also used in so-called "Bio-Energy with Carbon Storage" (BECS) systems, a radical carbon negative energy concept. BECS relies on burning renewable and climate neutral biofuels instead of fossil fuels, after which the CO2 released is sequestered, making the over-all GHG balance negative.

BECS is the only system that can take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere while delivering energy at the same time. Scientists who proposed BECS in the context of so-called "abrupt climate change" think such a system can take us back to pre-industrial CO2 levels in a few decades (earlier post and a comparison between 'synthetic trees' and BECS).


A more detailed overview of the highlights of the UN Foundation's report:

• To avoid a entering a regime of sharply rising danger of intolerable impacts on humans, policy makers should limit temperature increases from global warming to 2-2.5°C above the 1750 pre-industrial level. It is still possible to avoid unmanageable changes in the future, but the time for action is now.

—Temperatures have already risen about 0.8°C[1] above pre-industrial levels and are projected to rise of approximately 3-5°C over pre-industrial levels by 2100.

—Avoiding temperature increases greater than 2-2.5°C would require very rapid success in reducing emissions of methane and black soot worldwide, and global carbon dioxide emissions must level off by 2015 or 2020 at not much above their current amount, before beginning a decline to no more than a third of that level by 2100.


• The technology exists to seize significant opportunities around the globe to reduce emissions and provide other economic, environmental and social benefits, including meeting the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. To do so, policy makers must immediately act to reduce emissions by:

—Improving efficiency in the transportation sector through measures such as vehicle efficiency standards, fuel taxes, and registration fees/rebates that favor purchase of efficient and alternative fuel vehicles.

—Improving design and efficiency of commercial and residential buildings through building codes, standards for equipment and appliances, incentives for property developers and landlords to build and manage properties efficiently, and financing for energy-efficiency investments.

—Expanding the use of biofuels through energy portfolio standards and incentives to growers and consumers.

—Beginning immediately, designing and deploying only coal-fired power plants that will be capable of cost-effective and environmentally-sound retrofits for capture and sequestration of their carbon emissions.

• Some level of climate change and impacts from it is already unavoidable. Societies must do more to adapt to ongoing and unavoidable changes in the Earth’s climate system by:

—Improving preparedness/response strategies and management of natural resources to cope with future climatic conditions that will be. fundamentally different than those experienced for the last 100 years.

—Addressing the adaptation needs of the poorest and most vulnerable nations, which will bear the brunt of climate change impacts.

—Planning and building climate resilient cities.

—Strengthening international, national, and regional institutions to cope with weather-related disasters and an increasing number of climate change refugees.

• The international community, through the UN and related multilateral institutions, can play a crucial role in advancing action to manage the unavoidable and avoid the unmanageable by:

—Helping developing countries and countries with economies in transition to finance and deploy energy efficient and new energy technologies.

—Accelerating negotiations to develop a successor international framework for addressing climate change and sustainable development.

—Educating all about the opportunities to adopt mitigation and adaptation measures.

More information:
United Nations Foundation: Scientific Expert Group on Climate Change and Sustainable Development - March, 2007
United Nations Foundation: Confronting Climate Change: Avoiding the unmanageable and managing the unavoidable, Executive Summary [*.pdf]
United Nations Foundation: Confronting Climate Change: Avoiding the unmanageable and managing the unavoidable, Full report [*.pdf]