Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage: green solution or dangerous distraction?

Graphic: ActionAid

NOTE: Same concept can apply to agricultural crops

What is BECCS?

BECCS stands for Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage

BECCS as a climate solution?

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• BECCS is seen by some as way to draw carbon dioxide out of atmosphere
• Because burning wood for energy is classed as ‘carbon neutral’ & ‘renewable’, BECCS would be classed as ‘carbon negative’

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Drax Power Station, Selby, Yorkshire

• World’s biggest biomass burner

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• UK’s single largest carbon emitter: emitted over 13m tonnes of CO2 in 2020 from burning 7m tonnes of wood
• Burns wood from clear-felled forests in the Southern USA, Canada, Estonia & Latvia

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• BECCS planning application this

year & Drax wants new subsidies�

Some problems with BECCS

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1. BECCS exists only as an idea: not proven technology

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• no fully-functioning wood biomass BECCS scheme operating anywhere in the world

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BECCS and ethanol fermentation

• Some CO₂ is emitted during ethanol fermentation e.g. by fermenting corn, wheat, sugar cane
• Capturing this pure CO₂ is fairly cheap and easy
• CO₂ from an ethanol plant in Illinois is being sequestered

What about BECCS with ethanol production?

• But this capture CO₂ is not carbon negative
• Far more CO₂ is emitted from burning fossil fuels to run the refinery than can be captured.

What about capturing CO₂ from burning wood at Drax?

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• 2019/20: Unsuccessful attempt by C-Capture to capture 1 tonne of CO2 a day;

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• Mitsubishi carrying out product testing of new amine solvent at Drax since 2020;

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• No CO2 stored or utilised – no means of storage

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• Drax admission in March 2021 – “our BECCS assumptions for energy are not based on trials, they will be based on our detailed design work” = no real-world experience
• ” 
• https://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/2021/drax-plcs-carbon-capture-claims-not-based-on-any-real-world-evidence-company-reveals-to-campaigners/

Why BECCS technology is unlikely to work

• Many unsuccessful attempts to capture carbon from burning coal
• Biomass burns differently to coal, so knowledge from coal CCS can’t just be transferred;
• It takes lots of energy to capture and compress CO2 –
• will need around a third more biomass to be burned for the same energy output

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2) What if BECCS technology did work one day? �

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• Burning wood for energy is already harming forests, wildlife & communities around the world

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• Creating an even bigger demand for wood for BECCS can only lead to more logging of forests or conversion of arable land into monoculture plantations.

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3) BECCS isn’t “carbon negative”

• Relies on the false idea that biomass energy is carbon neutral
• Letter from over 500 scientists to President Biden & other world leaders (Feb 2021):
• “As numerous studies have shown, this burning of wood will increase warming for decades to centuries. That is true even when the wood replaces coal, oil or natural gas.” https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20482842-scientist-leter-to-biden-van-der-leyden-michel-suga-moon-february-11-2021

4) High cost of BECCS: Ember research

• https://ember-climate.org/project/cost-drax-beccs-plant/

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• Ember estimates that £31.7 billion in subsidies will be needed for BECCS at Drax - without delivering negative emissions
• Equivalent to almost £500 per person in the UK, directly adding more than £16 a year to each household’s energy bill.
• Danger that Drax could get subsidies for being “carbon capture ready” without having to reduce emissions

Alternatives to BECCS: protecting forests

• BECCS would probably make us miss climate targets & prevent meaningful climate action
• Protecting mature forests and allowing them to grow is the most effective way of sequestering carbon from the atmosphere & keep global warming from going beyond 1.5 or even 2 degrees

Genuine solutions: Redirecting biomass subsidies & preventing BECCS subsidies

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• Transfer over £1 billion in UK renewable subsidies from tree burning to renewable wind & solar�https://www.cutcarbonnotforests.org/email-your-mp/

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• Also need to prevent new subsidies for BECCS
• Benefits for wildlife, forests, communities and green jobs in genuinely renewable energy

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The need for a Just Transition

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• Huge potential for a Just Transition to green jobs without relying on unproven techno-fixes:

https://www.cacctu.org.uk/sites/data/files/sites/data/files/Docs/climatejobs-2021-web.pdf

https://neweconomics.org/2021/06/powering-the-just-transition

Genuine carbon capture- trees

“Protecting and restoring the world’s forests is a climate change solution, burning them is not.”

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The Biomass Delusion: Paper signed by over 170 environmental groups

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Thank you!

• https://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/
• Updates: https://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/get-updates/
• Email: biofuelwatch@gmail.com
• Facebook: @biofuelwatch
• Twitter: @biofuelwatch

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