Verra Holds Crediting for CDM Rice Cultivation Methodology

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World’s largest carbon registry Verra has paused all crediting activities surrounding the use of UNFCCC Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) on rice cultivation methodology. 

Verra conducted a review of the use of the CDM methodology AMS-III.AU in its Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program. It’s otherwise known as methane emission reduction by adjusted water management practice in rice cultivation. 

CDM Rice Cultivation Methodology

The CDM AMS-III.AU applies to reduced anaerobic decomposition of organic matter in rice cropping soils. This includes projects or activities such as the following:

rice farms that change the water regime during the cultivation period from continuous to intermittent flooded conditions and/or a shortened period of flooded conditions; 
alternate wetting and drying method and aerobic rice cultivation methods; and 
rice farms that change their rice cultivation practice from transplanted to direct seeded rice.

The specific type of climate mitigation action the methodology represents is GHG emission avoidance.  

Projects that generate carbon credits under this methodology must meet important conditions. The major one is that rice cultivation in the project area must be characterized by irrigated, flooded fields for an extended period of time during the growing season. 

With the project implemented, the rice fields must have a controlled irrigation and drainage system in place. But any activity under the project should not lower rice yield. 

Moreover, the project must provide training and technical support to farmers during the cropping season. However, any rice cultivation practice the project introduces should not be subject to local regulation restrictions. 

Here’s how it looks like, from baseline scenario to project scenario. 

Why Verra Reviews the Methodology

Verra paused the carbon crediting of projects covered by the CDM rice cultivation methodology and placed it under review for these concerns:

Project categorization as small-scale. This is an important criteria for a project to benefit from UNFCCC CDM rules. Only qualified as such a project can use common practice analysis as part of the additionality tool.
Potentially not satisfying regulatory surplus requirements or going beyond what the government requires.
Concerns with project monitoring data quality. 

With that said, Verra will immediately inactivate the use of UNFCCC CDM rice cultivation methodology in its VCS Program. And that means suspending all requests involving projects that are using the methodology. These include:

Pipeline listings
Registrations
Verification approvals
Issuances 

The VCS Program allows projects to apply a methodology under other GHG programs such as the UNFCCC CDM. But such an application is still subject to the rules of Verra’s VCS Program.

Rule for Methodology Dev’t and Review Process

The top carbon registry may review methodologies approved under its VCS Program. That is to ensure that they still reflect best practices, scientific consensus, changing market conditions, and technical development in a sector. 

Verra is doing a periodic review of each methodology, module, and tool within 5 years after its last review or update. Depending on the result of a review, Verra may revise the methodology.

As per the VCS Program’s rules in Section 5 on methodology development and review process, Verra will conduct the review if a project developer, a VVB, or the registry itself find an issue such as:

Material inconsistency with a new VCS Program rule (causing material difference in the quantification of GHG emission reductions or removals by projects applying the methodology);
General scientific or technical developments in a specific sector; or
Any other well-founded concerns about a methodology.

To date, Verra has registered 37 projects using the CDM rice cultivation methodology. 25 of them have issued verified carbon units or carbon credits amounting to 4.56 million. That figure accounts for only 0.43% of all carbon credits issued and verified by Verra.

The review follows Verra’s initial assessment of concerns raised relating to the methodology. Results will be published as they become available.

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Exxon Picks Technip to Design its $7B Low-Carbon Hydrogen Plant

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ExxonMobil announced the major step of its plan to develop the world’s largest low-carbon hydrogen production facility, with a contract for front-end engineering and design (FEED) awarded to Technip Energies. 

The oil giant will build the largest low-carbon hydrogen production plant in the world in Baytown Refinery near Houston, Texas. ExxonMobil awarded its FEED contract to French-headquartered Technip Energies.

Technip Energies is an engineering and technology company for the energy transition that has long had a strong presence in the area. 

Exxon says it plans to come to a final investment decision in the Baytown hydrogen plant in 2024. Stakeholder’s support, permits, and market conditions will dictate how the project goes. 

World’s Biggest Low-Carbon Hydrogen Plant

The proposed facility will cost Exxon $7 billion to develop. The plant can produce 1 billion cubic feet (bcf) of low-carbon hydrogen daily, making it the world’s largest facility. 

It will also produce an undisclosed volume of ammonia, a key fertilizer ingredient. 

The oil and gas corporation also adds that it will capture and permanently store over 98% of the facility’s carbon emissions. That amounts to around 7 million metric tons (Mt) of carbon dioxide each year. 

Such goal is in coordination with its major carbon capture and storage (CCS) project it’s currently developing in the Houston and Gulf Coast area. It has the capacity to store up to 10 million Mt of CO2 each year.

The current global CCS capacity is 63 million tonnes per year (Mtpa).

The planned pipeline is 14x that amount – 1 billion tonnes. The bulk of capacity as of Q2 2022 resides in the U.S. and Canada as seen in the chart below. But by 2030, capacity in Asia and Europe will be higher, according to energy intelligence firm Woodmac.

The CCS network for Exxon’s project will be made available for use by 3rd-party CO2 emitters in the area. The firm has offtake agreements under discussion with these third party customers. 

According to Dan Ammann, President of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions, the project allows them to offer “significant volumes of low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia to third party customers in support of their decarbonization efforts”. He further said that:

“In addition, the project is expected to enable up to a 30% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions from our Baytown integrated complex, by switching from natural gas as a fuel source to low-carbon hydrogen…”

The announcement comes after Exxon unveiled last week that it has stopped routine flaring of natural gas in its Permian Basin operations. It’s also part of the company’s advocacy for stronger regulations to reduce flaring in the industry overall.

Exxon’s Carbon Reduction Plans

Exxon aims to reduce its Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions from its operated facilities. The end goal is to reach net zero emissions in those categories by 2050. 

“It levels the playing field. We need strong regulations so it doesn’t matter who owns the facility,” says Exxon’s chief environmental scientist Matt Kolesar.

In 2021, the company revealed its carbon emissions reduction plans for 2030 compared to 2016 levels.

The plan is to achieve these targets:

20-30% reduction in corporate-wide greenhouse gas intensity;  
40-50% reduction in greenhouse gas intensity of upstream operations; 
70-80% reduction in corporate-wide methane intensity; and 
60-70% reduction in corporate-wide flaring intensity. 

Moreover, Exxon also announced last year that it expects to capture as much as 50 million Mt of CO2 by 2030. And with various CCS projects worldwide, that capacity will increase to 100 million Mt by 2040. 

In its Houston Ship Channel, the company said that it’s working with 14 other firms to boost their CCS efforts.

The CCS network is worth $100 billion initially. It will capture CO2 from the tailgates of those plants and store it in underground formations. Storage options would be below the Gulf of Mexico or the nearby coastal areas.

Exxon’s next move is to launch a satellite later in 2023 to help it track its GHG emissions in the Permian Basin and to cut them. It will pair the world’s largest low-carbon hydrogen facility with the biggest olefins plant in the country to make more sustainable, lower-emissions products.

Hydrogen is a hot topic on clean energy transitions. Green hydrogen, in particular, gets a lot of traction and is hailed as the energy of the future. Subsidy programs this year will help ensure that this low-carbon hydrogen becomes a large-scale source of renewable energy.

The Baytown low-carbon hydrogen plant will be commissioned between 2022 and 2027. Its initial startup is sometime in the 2027- 2028 timeline, says Exxon.

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Carbon Negative Building Materials

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Perhaps you’re wondering if carbon negative building materials can indeed absorb more carbon than their production emits. If you do, then you’re not alone, many of us do.

In fact, a lot of people have the same question in mind… And it’s not surprising because carbon negative building systems are quite recent but it’s here to stay. Why? 

Over a third of worldwide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are courtesy of the building sector. And the world is at the critical point when it has to reduce GHG emissions. That’s why.

What is Carbon Sink Building Material Emissions?

First up, it helps to differentiate between carbon neutral and carbon negative. 

Being carbon neutral means the amount of CO2 the material emits is the same as the amount it removes from the atmosphere. Being carbon negative means the amount of CO2 the product sucks in is more than it releases. 

Carbon negative building systems involve the use of construction materials and technology that can slash the carbon emissions of the building sector with effective removal of CO2 from the air. This is possible with the application of a combination of these:

Sustainable energy sources 
Energy-efficient engineering
Carbon capture technology

Building Sector: A Major Source of Carbon 

Carbon emissions from the building industry and its impact on the environment are getting traction recently. The building sector accounts for a large amount of energy use and carbon emissions. 

The building industry is responsible for about 39% of the global GHG emissions. 

There are simply a lot of sources of GHG when building a structure, such as from sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, carbon, particulate matter, and other pollutants. Other major sources include the energy needed for the production and transportation of building materials, treatment, dumping of wastes, and demand for construction equipment. 

Materials and products used in a building like steel and aluminum are created through various processes. These include raw material extraction, raw material process, melting, manufacture of final products, and transportation to building sites. Each of those processes uses energy expressed in carbon emissions. 

Total emissions of all building materials and products and the construction involved in putting them together refer to the building’s embodied carbon. Embodied carbon accounts for about 20% of the total GHG emissions from the building sector.

Cutting embodied carbon is one of the practical mitigation measures for the sector. And it can do that by opting for carbon sink and carbon negative building materials and products.

Unfortunately, the traditional building systems don’t use carbon sink building material. 

Traditional construction technologies largely rely on fossil fuels for their energy needs, which results in huge carbon emissions. Add to this the fact that these traditional systems often lack energy efficient approaches. This then led to more energy use and higher costs. 

Plus, traditional building systems don’t have the ability to remove carbon from the environment. Even if emissions are cut during construction, the carbon emitted by the building itself will remain positive.   

Importance of Carbon Negative Building Materials

Keeping the global temperatures at bay is no longer a choice; it’s a must. Otherwise the planet will have to experience worse effects of climate change. 

This is where the significance of shifting to carbon negative building materials kicks in. Aside from their sustainability, they also offer massive financial advantages. 

For instance, using renewable power sources and energy-efficient engineering may result in lower energy expenses both for builders and tenants. More remarkably but effortlessly, the carbon sequestration ability of the modern carbon negative building materials can generate carbon credits. 

Carbon credits are units earned by reducing or removing carbon from the atmosphere. Each credit represents one tonne of carbon prevented or removed. 

Generating carbon credits gave the holders additional income by selling the credits. 

Now you might be asking what building material has the lowest carbon footprint to get the most credits?

It actually depends on how the material or product is processed, what’s the technology behind it, energy use, raw materials used, and so on. Remember the embodied carbon. 

Concrete is cheap and easy to make, making it a favorite material in the building sector around the world. But that comes at the expense of the earth’s health – 7% of global carbon emissions.

At least 30 billion metric tons of concrete are used every year to erect buildings. 

That fact spurs a race among scientists and engineers to design more sustainable building materials. Apart from carbon negative or green concrete, what are other examples of low carbon building materials?

Let’s get to know them all.

Types of Carbon Negative Building Materials 

Research and development in low carbon building materials resulted in innovative products using recycled products. Here are some examples of recently developed carbon negative building materials. 

Recycled metals:

Processes involved in producing metals are very carbon intensive. But taking their entire life cycle performance can cut their total energy use. That’s because repeated use of recycled metals doesn’t affect their properties.

Also, reusing existing metal structural parts like steel columns and beams is possible, even without the full recycling process. It’s even more interesting to know that builders can use metal products that are not meant for building. For instance, shipping containers can also be reused in building new structures. 

Low-carbon bricks: 

Using 40% fly ash – fine glass powder made primarily of iron, silica, and alumina – helps cut embodied carbon in conventional bricks. It’s a byproduct of burning coal for electricity generation. The use of this low carbon building material has been since 2009.

Green tiles:

What makes tiles green is the use of ceramics from ~50% recycled glass and other minerals. The waste glass turned into tiles are then used in internal and external flooring and cladding. The sparkling glass components add more aesthetic quality to the tiles.  

Structural timber: 

Wood is made of ~50% carbon by dry weight. Considering the embodied carbon and the stored carbon in wood, many timber building materials are carbon negative. 

Thanks to its carbon negative properties, timber is making a great comeback as a popular construction material. Unlike concrete and metal made from carbon-intensive fossil fuels, timber is a renewable material that helps remove CO2 from the atmosphere.

Hempcrete:

Another carbon negative construction material is hempcrete, which is rather unpopular. It’s a composite of hemp fibers and is a glue-like binder. Hemp can suck up twice as much carbon as a typical forest. 

Green or carbon negative concrete: 

Byproducts of industrial processes and recycled materials used to replace raw materials to make traditional concrete. For example, fly ash and granulated blast-furnace slag are substituted for carbon intensive cement. 

Likewise, washed copper slag can be used in place of aggregate or sand. Using recycled granite from demolished debris also helps reduce emissions of concrete. 

How is carbon negative concrete made?

There are several ways to make low-carbon or even carbon negative concrete blocks. 

One way is by adding a biogenic limestone, a carbon neutral material, which can pull CO2 from the air, making it carbon negative. 

Another way is to replace traditional mix of cement with a magnesium-based cement using seawater. It can soak up carbon instead of emitting it like conventional cement do. 

The manufacture of cement, concrete’s key ingredient, accounts for a whopping 8% of the world’s total emissions. But it’s not possible to stop using concrete blocks to build structures. 

So, innovative ways emerge to make concrete not only a carbon neutral building material but is carbon negative, too. After all, we need stronger houses to withstand much stronger storms and hurricanes. 

With all those options, what would be the best carbon neutral building materials? To help you decide or just start your selection process, we’re giving you the top products in the sector. 

The Best Carbon Negative Building Materials 

While there are quite a few pioneering companies trying to make a name in the space, here are the best ones that stand out. 

Plantd Structural Panels

At the top of our list for the best carbon negative construction materials is the products by Plantd. Plantd is a revolutionary sustainable building materials company that transforms fast-growing perennial grass into durable, carbon negative building materials. 

Plantd’s patented low-carbon emissions production technology recently attracted $10 million in Series A funding round recently. The American Family Ventures led the round.

Both the firm’s co-founders and engineers – Huade Tan and Nathan Silvernail, worked together and honed their skills at SpaceX. While there, they’ve been designing and building key systems and components of the crew spacecraft for years. Completing their pioneering team is serial entrepreneur Josh Dorfman, co-founder and CEO. 

With its highly capable team, Plantd is redefining the value chain for sustainable, carbon negative building materials. 

Starting with structural panel products for walls and roofs like in the picture above, Plantd will make building materials that are a direct substitute for traditional home building products. They also don’t need any alternative installation techniques. 

The company grows fast-growing perennial grass instead of cutting down trees and pioneers novel production technology to reduce carbon emissions. The resulting product called Plantd Structural Panels is capable of retaining 80% of CO2 captured in the field.

That CO2 is then locked away inside the walls and roofs of new homes. 

CarbiCrete CMUs

Same with Plantd’s carbon negative building materials, CarbiCrete develops innovative, low-cost building products that help reduce emissions. Its patented technology enables the production of cement-free, carbon negative concrete using mineral waste and CO2 as raw materials.  

The company offers high-quality precast concrete at a lower-cost and in a way that reduces their carbon footprint. This attracts attention from investors, allowing the firm to raise a total of ~$28M to date. Led investors include NGen, Canada’s Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster. 

With cement-based concrete, the first step of the process involves mixing cement with aggregate and water. With CarbiCrete, cement is out of the equation. Steel slag is used instead and is mixed with the other building materials.

It’s also worth noting that creating CarbiCrete’s CMUs (concrete masonry units) involves a specialized absorption chamber into which CO2 is injected. Within 24 hours, the concrete will reach its full-strength.

In comparison with cement-based CMUs, CarbiCrete CMUs show equivalent or better mechanical and durability properties. They also have the same water absorption properties, but have higher compressive strength by up to 30% and display better freeze/thaw resistance.

CarbiCrete’s 3rd-party Lifecycle Analysis (LCA) shows a 100% reduction of the CO2 emissions from eliminating cement use. 

The result?

3kg of CO2 removed per CMU 2kg avoided by not using cement + 1kg captured during curing. In other words, net negative emissions with the permanent sequestration of carbon mineralized in the product curing.

GreenJams Agrocrete 

If cement were considered a country, it would be the world’s 3rd-largest carbon emitter. It even surpassed a big country like India.

But a social enterprise, GreenJams, based in Roorkee and Visakhapatnam offers a solution. The startup gets financial support through grants by various institutions, including universities. It has completed its angel round in an undisclosed amount.

GreenJams creates carbon negative building materials from agriculture biomass and hemp blocks. Their early prototype products look like below. 

Its product called Agrocrete is made from up-cycled material. Its founders said the product can:

cut construction costs by 50%,
increase thermal insulation by 50%, and 
reduce the time needed to construct buildings.

The agricultural residues such as paddy straw, cotton stalks, bagasse, etc. used to make Agrocrete gets mixed with the firm’s innovative product BINDR. It’s a 100% up-cycled low carbon alternative to Portland cement made from industrial by-products of steel, paper and power industries. Here’s how Agrocrete’s life goes about.

Agrocrete has the strength the same to that of a conventional red brick from the kiln. Yet, it offers less water absorption tendency, captures tonnes of CO2 emissions and can stay for at least 75 years. 

To top it all, Agrocrete blocks are 30% lighter so it also cuts labor cost and is more convenient for masons to work on. 

Carbon negative building materials like the top ones above actually reduce GHG emissions as they are used. Over the course of their entire life cycle, they will remove more carbon from the air than they will release. They can help offset the environmental impact of your construction project or help make your home more sustainable. 

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EU Unlocks $270B for Green Deal Industrial Plan to Boost Net Zero

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The European Commission (EC) set out its $270 billion Green Deal Industrial Plan to support Europe’s race to green transition and boost its net zero industry. 

EC President Ursula Von der Leyen announced the plan at the World Economic Forum in Davos, saying it’s a response to the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act. IRA is the leading climate law revealed last year with $369 billion funds to decarbonize industry and transportation in the U.S.

Von der Leyen said in a news conference that:

“Major economies are rightly stepping up investment in net zero industries. What we are looking at is that we have a global playing field… We know that in the next years, the shape of the economy, the net-zero economy, and where it is located will be decided. And we want to be an important part of this net-zero industry that we need globally.

So to keep its competitive edge in the green tech space and net zero, the EU Green Deal is revitalized. The proposed plan will set aside €250 billion ($272 billion) from the existing EU funds aimed at decarbonizing the bloc’s economy. 

EU Green Deal Industrial Plan: What’s New? 

The original European Green Deal was presented in 2019. It’s a set of policy initiatives by the EC that are fit for cutting net GHG emissions of the union by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.

What’s new with the Green Deal Industrial Plan is that it will ramp up the net zero transformation of the EU industry. The Plan will also ensure that the bloc has access to various technologies and solutions that are key to its net zero transition while bringing more quality jobs.

Moreover, it will help fuel competitiveness, attract investments into net zero and in green industrial innovation. 

Overall, the new Green Deal Industrial Plan will create the right conditions for net zero industries to thrive in the EU. 

The Four Pillars of the Plan

The Green Deal Industrial Plan has the following key elements:

Fast-tracking permits for clean tech

The first pillar will make regulatory frameworks simpler and permitting faster for clean tech firms. 

A major part of that is the creation of a Net-Zero Industry Act that will provide faster permits to technology manufacturers. Examples of these technologies include renewables, carbon capture and storage (CCS), hydrogen production facilities, and batteries. 

The EU will also establish the Critical Raw Materials Act to ensure access to materials that are critical for making those green tech. The bloc plans to expand certain technologies by 2030 and specify criteria for strategic clean tech projects. 

Faster access to subsidies

Faster access to funding means loosening state aid rules until 2025. This is to enable the EU’s 27 Member States to help with investments in net zero. 

Also, the Green Deal Industrial Plan considers allowing countries to draw on existing EU funds so as not to disrupt the internal market’s level playing field. With this plan, a total of 245 billion euros worth of loans and grants will be made available for the green transition. 

In the long run, the EC intends to propose a “European Sovereignty Fund” to invest in emerging technologies.

Up-skilling and re-skilling workforce

Transitioning to net zero also requires enough skills in green industries. For example, the battery sector alone projects it needs 800,000 more workers by 2025.

Thus, the EU plans to establish Net-Zero Industry Academies or up-skilling and re-skilling programs in strategic industries. The bloc, in fact, has made several industry partnerships in the automotive, agri-food and other sectors to promote education and vocational training.  

The EC is also working to boost recognition of qualifications not just in the EU but also from third countries. The Commission will also support the alignment of public and private funding for skills development, and drive more investment in training.

Open and fair trade

The last pillar is on promoting global, open and fair trade – a vital part of keeping the region’s leadership in net zero technologies. This is important to improve access to raw materials and secure access to new export markets.

The EC, which is responsible for the EU’s trade policy, will continue the development of the bloc’s network of Free Trade Agreements. It also considers making alliances with like-minded partners on raw materials and clean tech. Take for instance its Trade and Technology Council with the U.S.

Part of this plan is dealing with what the Commissions says unfair trading practices common in non-market economies like China. 

Other EU Green Initiatives

The Green Deal Industrial Plan complements other green initiatives of the EU that help speed up the transition such as REPowerEU. 

REPowerEU is the bloc’s plan to rapidly reduce dependence on Russian fossil fuels and fast-track the green transition. This Plan contains measures that can make such a goal possible by rolling out renewables quickly. At its heart is the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), which supports planning and financing of energy projects and reforms. 

Working alongside REPowerEU, the Green Deal Industrial Plan gives guidance on policies to simplify procedures. This is to help unlock more access to funding for clean tech, especially from the private sector.

That should help the industry build more confidence in the future of the EU’s net zero transition.

The EC hopes member states will back its plan at a Feb 9-10 summit. But it faces resistance from some EU members that oppose parts of the plan. They say the plan is “too late, too little”, while others think it “lacks focus” on certain technologies.

Other members, however, welcomed the proposals.

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Etihad And SATAVIA Optimize Vapor Trails

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UAE’s Etihad Airways signed a multi-year deal with UK-based SATAVIA to use advanced data analytics for vapor trail prevention in its daily flight operations.

Etihad will use SATAVIA’s specialized software to optimize flight paths and minimize vapor trails. Etihad had previously run a pilot project to reduce vapor trails on transatlantic flights. The latest partnership with SATAVIA will expand this beyond the demonstration stage.

This could also lead to more partnerships around generating carbon credits from vapor trail management. The generation of the vapor trail avoidance credits will be based on SATAVIA’s climate impact analysis.

What are Vapor Trails?

When flying at high altitudes, aircrafts form white, cloud-like trails behind the body of the plane. 

These trails are actually made up of tiny ice crystals that occur due to condensation. These form under specific atmospheric conditions and like CO2, contribute to the earth’s greenhouse effect.

In addition to CO2 emissions, jet engines also emit water vapor from fuel combustion. At very high cruising altitudes (around 8000 m or 26,000 ft), the air outside is quite cold. 

This means that the water vapor will condense quickly when they encounter this cold external air. The water vapor could be from the engine’s exhaust gases or from the ambient air when the relative humidity is high.

This condensation occurs on dust or sulfur particles that are also emitted from the aircraft. The end result is tiny ice crystals that form cirrus clouds.

The duration of the vapor trail has a huge impact on its global warming effect. Some vapor trails disperse quickly and are not problematic for the climate. However, if the relative humidity is over 100%, the vapor trails are more persistent and last for hours. These will trap heat and contribute to the greenhouse effect.

Vapor Trail Management in Aviation

In recent years, vapor trails have become a huge issue for the aviation industry. Some research has shown that they can contribute even more towards global warming than CO2. 

One 2018 study looked at the contribution of the aviation sector towards climate change between 2000 and 2018. It found that vapor trails were responsible for almost 60% of aviation’s effect on climate change.

Vapor Trails management in aviation requires a multi-aspect approach. Firstly, engine efficiencies would need to be improved, so that they emit fewer sulfur or dust particles. This leaves less room for condensation.

The other strategy is to optimize flight paths so that the flights do not encounter the atmospheric conditions that form vapor trails. For example, minimizing flight paths encountering high relative humidity or avoiding areas that have lots of dust particles in the air.

SATAVIA’s Vapor Trail Management System

SATAVIA is a UK-based data analytics startup founded by volcanologist Adam Durant. Durant has extensive experience studying the links between atmospheric conditions and aircraft function. 

After seeing the aviation industry disrupted by a volcanic eruption in Iceland in 2010, it motivated Durant started his company in 2013. According to Durant, only 5-10% of flights are responsible for 80-90% of vapor trails. Hence, optimizing only a few flight paths could significantly reduce climate impact.

SATAVIA provides a specialized management program to predict vapor trail formation. It uses real-time satellite imagery and atmospheric conditions like temperature and humidity to make accurate predictions. The prediction model could be used up to 36 hours in advance. 

SATAVIA vapor trail prevention deal with Etihad will allow the latter to leverage those technologies.

Etihad’s Commitment to Greener Aviation

This is one of Etihad’s many projects to tackle climate change in the aviation industry. In 2022, the company marked Earth Day by carrying out 42 EcoFlights in five days. This included 22 vapor trail management flights.

Based on the results from the EcoFlights, the company said they saved 40 minutes of flight time and reduced six tonnes of carbon emissions. And for each ton of CO2 reduced, Etihad gets one carbon credit. The airline is trading its vapor trail avoidance credits on a carbon exchange platform.

The flights tested a number of optimization strategies. These included:

Optimized flight paths to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions
Vapor Trails prevention to reduce water vapor emissions
Variable cruising speed using specialized software. Etihad claims this translated to 15% fuel savings.
Reduced flaps for landing, which reduces drag and fuel consumption. Etihad claims this saves 30 kgs of fuel for every approach.
Using a single-engine to taxi. Shutting down one engine during taxiing resulted in a 20%-40% saving in carbon emissions, according to the company.

The data collected from these flights would be valuable to optimize future flight paths and other green aviation initiatives. Apart from its Satavia vapor trail deal, Etihad also has established the Greenliner and Sustainable50 programs to achieve its decarbonization goals. These programs were in collaboration with Boeing, GE and Rolls Royce.

The aviation industry has multiple programs in place to bring down emissions. Initiatives such as carbon-offsetting CORSIA, are a major step towards reaching net zero by 2050. However, some major airlines like EasyJet and JetBlue are moving away from carbon offsetting and towards using Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs).

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Who Issues Carbon Credits? (Everything You Need To Know)

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Who issues carbon credits? A question that requires a not-so-straightforward answer… Still, it deserves an answer.

Primarily because slashing emissions and decarbonizing economies are urgently required. But the time is running out and the technology to do that is not always readily available.

Enter carbon credits… 

Individuals and companies buy them to compensate for their unavoidable emissions. They’re from projects or activities that reduce or remove carbon emissions from the air.

How do carbon credits work? And how do they work for farmers or landowners? If you also have the same questions, then let’s get to the bottom of them after we deal with the basics first.

How Do Carbon Credits Work and Who Issues Them?

Carbon credits work like most commodities – they’re tradable units or certificates. To be more specific, they are a permit that gives its holder the right to emit certain amounts of carbon dioxide or its equivalent (CO2e), such as nitrous oxide, methane, etc.

1 carbon credit represents 1 metric tonne of CO2 prevented from entering the atmosphere. 

Why do we need carbon credits, or to put it more appropriately… Can we go about without them? 

If people and companies continue their business as usual, then there’s no place for carbon credits. But if we bravely accept the truth and face the climate crisis head-on, then carbon credits are critical. 

Fast Fact: The world has seen billions of metric tonnes (Mt) of CO2e pumped into the air each year, rising from about 36 billion Mt in 2016 to around 41 billion Mt in 2022. 

That scary fact gave birth to carbon credits; they came about to tackle the need for controlling harmful GHG emissions. They’re particularly meant to slash carbon emissions from industrial activities in carbon-intensive sectors such as steel, power, transportation, and other industries that use fossil fuels. 

Be it coal, oil, or natural gas, they all release detrimental gasses into our atmosphere. They just don’t pollute the air we breathe but they also trap heat from the sun. In other words, they’re the ones to blame for the earth’s rising temperatures. 

So, if we want to stop the planet from getting warmer, we need to have some solutions up our sleeves. And yes, carbon credits are one of them. 

How Do Carbon Credits Work?

Carbon credits are traded in carbon markets, voluntarily (voluntary carbon market) and mandatory (compliance market). 

To help you understand better how these credits work, here’s a sample scenario where they’re used. 

In a regulated market, if a country limits how much carbon companies can emit, then those firms have to abide by the law. So if the government permits company A to release only 100 Mt of CO2e each year, but the latter emits 200 Mt it has to compensate for the excess of 100 Mt.

Company A then buys 100 carbon credits to fully offset the excess. Or it may decide to just pay the fine, which can be more expensive. 

In the VCM, the concept is pretty much the same. The only difference is that company A does it voluntarily for good reasons. It can be that stakeholders pressure it or the officers want to do it as part of its ESG practice. 

Regardless of the reason, one big question rises – who issues carbon credits and does America issue them, too? 

The Kyoto Protocol establishes the carbon credit system. It put in place quotas on how much GHG countries can dump into the air. But only developed countries, known for their huge GHG emissions, have certain emissions limits or caps to meet. 

They operate in an emissions trading system, popularly known as ETS. Carbon credits traded in an ETS are from various projects certified and verified by carbon standards such as Verra, Gold Standard, Puro.earth, American Carbon Registry, among others. 

For developing nations, carbon credits are issued in the form of Certified Emission Reductions (CERs). Each CER is awarded for each tonne of GHG that a project reduces, avoids, or removes. These carbon credits, measured in Mt of CO2e, are issued by UNFCCC. 

Anyone can buy these carbon credits on this platform to offset their emissions. Or they can do so just to support or finance the carbon reduction or removal projects. 

Here’s how the platform looks when searching for a specific project, where it is, and other information about it. 

Credit buyers and sellers can also trade in carbon exchange platforms. They work like a stock exchange for carbon credits. 

How Do Carbon Credits Work In America?

While the carbon credits system has been around in the EU, China, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea, it’s not available on the same scale in the United States. But California has its own ETS operating since 2012 and it covers the state of California only. 

Emissions standards are set by the California Air Resources Board (CARB).

In a sense, how carbon credits work in America follow the same system that exists in the California ETS. However, entities that want to offset their carbon footprint in other parts of America won’t be covered by the California ETS.   

The California carbon credits system covers several sectors, which includes:

Large industrial facilities (e.g. cement, iron and steel, petroleum refining, hydrogen, etc.)
Electricity generation and electricity imports
Suppliers of carbon dioxide
Suppliers of natural gas, petroleum gas, LNG, LPG, and certain distillate fuel oils
Other stationary combustion

The current price for carbon under the California ETS is USD ~$30 per ton. The carbon trading system has collected $14+ billion since inception, which includes $1.7 in 2020 alone. 

Apart from those regulated sectors, any business entity or individual can take part in trading carbon credits voluntarily. Same as explained earlier, entities can either buy or sell carbon credits or do both, in the VCM. 

You can do the same through different carbon credit marketplaces and carbon exchanges. There are plenty of them available, each has a set of unique features but offers almost the same benefits of trading carbon credits. 

If you want to know the details of how to buy carbon credits, here’s our step-by-step guide to do that. 

Basically, that’s how carbon credits work in America, which is pretty much the same in other parts of the world. 

If you’re wondering who is the largest seller of carbon credit, it’s currently China and India. While the largest buyer of carbon credit is usually the countries in Europe. 

But it’s interesting to note that Tesla is also one of the biggest sellers of carbon credits under CARB. In fact, it earned billions of dollars already from doing it. Its 2022 total carbon credit sales shows that the electric carmaker made a record $1.78 billion. 

In the VCM, the biggest buyer of carbon offset credits is the crypto trading company Toucan Protocol, according to Bloomberg. Toucan is a bridging protocol that turns real-life carbon credits into tokens that can be used on a blockchain. It was the first platform to allow for the tokenization of carbon credits. 

The data analyzed is from Verra, the world’s largest carbon standard. But since data that’s available is limited to what carbon credit buyers and sellers voluntarily disclose, the analysis covers only about half of the global carbon market.

Source: BloombergNEF

Farmers and any landowners can also sell carbon credits because all land can store carbon. So, this makes farmers eligible for earning carbon credits with 1 credit for each ton of CO2 their land sequesters. 

How Do Carbon Credits Work For Farmers?

The idea is simple. If you’re a farmer, prove that your land reduces or removes more carbon than it previously did. But how does that happen? By making some changes in your farming practices, usually with sustainable and regenerative farming. 

The reduction or sequestration of CO2 by regenerative farming leads to the creation of carbon credits. These credits are then brought to market by project developers who sold them to companies that need to offset their own emissions while supporting farmers.

In return, farmers get extra revenue for every ton of CO2 sequestered by their farmlands. 

For instance, if a farmer has a total amount of sequestered GHG of 22,745 metric tons across his acres, he can earn carbon credits worth $341,175 with the price of $15/ton.

Apparently, how carbon credits work for farmers is quite similar to how they do for others who can show they reduce or remove CO2. 

There’s a catch, however. Farmers may falsely claim, intentionally or with an honest mistake, to achieve certain carbon reductions or removal.

This is where an independent, 3rd-party body comes in to measure and verify the carbon reduction claim. This is to ensure that there’s a real carbon reduction or sequestration that happens. 

Soil tests, for example, are one way of carbon credit programs to verify claims. In the US, validation of farming practices is done by way of federal crop records and field data.

On the buyers’ side, investors and businesses like Cargill, General Mills, Mcdonald’s, Shopify, Microsoft, and JPMorgan are committed to supporting farming methods that regenerate the soil to capture more carbon. 

They buy carbon credits from farmers, incentivizing them to continue their farm’s carbon sequestration. They specifically aim to advance regenerative farming practices on millions of acres of North American lands.

The chart below shows the potential of various regenerative farming methods in cutting emissions in million metric tons of CO2e. 

The Growing Climate Solutions Act of 2021 gives authority to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to help farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners take part in carbon credit markets. It supports the development of a voluntary market for carbon credits on agricultural lands.

Fast Fact: A study indicated that the potential demand for agriculture carbon credits in the US is 190 million tons per year. It also estimated the size of the US market for carbon credits at $5.2 billion per year.

How Do Carbon Tax Credits Work?

Governments do love taxes. Understandably so because they bring in revenue and they’re easy to administer, at least in theory. Taxes are also a great tool to control purchasing power.

If the government raises the tax on something, the price also increases. With increased prices, fewer people can buy that item or use the service. Adopting the same concept to pricing carbon makes sense. 

Carbon tax credits are the government’s tool to incentivize initiatives that prevent or remove carbon from the atmosphere. 

In the U.S., Pres. Biden’s 45Q tax credit is a perfect example. It particularly incentivizes carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. Heavy industries like steel and cement where decarbonization is challenging are covered with this carbon tax. 

Projects that capture carbon enjoy the benefit of $85 per metric ton. 

Direct air capture (DAC), in particular, is a popular carbon removal technology that removes carbon and stores it geologically. It’s badly needed for the world to decarbonize. Fortunately, it’s scalable with the right investments and funding.

Enhancing the existing carbon tax credit for carbon sequestration can speed the deployment and innovation of CCS technologies.

And that’s how carbon tax credits work to help companies race towards net zero. 

Carbon credits are for entities to offset their emissions and support carbon reduction/removal efforts. Carbon tax credits are to further incentivize those climate-related actions and encourage carbon reductions. 

Issuing Carbon Credits

Who issues carbon credits depends on two things: mandated or voluntary. But regardless of which market, issuing carbon credits follow the same principles.

The issuer must know all the important information about them, the project that generates the credits, its location, vintage, benefits/co-benefits, and more. This information should then be publicly available for the buyers or investors to access and evaluate.

Only when there’s transparency that the integrity of the credits can be verified. After all, the credits must show that they have indeed done their job of cutting or preventing carbon emissions.

If you want to know more about carbon credits, visit our comprehensive guide here. Or you can go over this article on who verifies carbon credits prior to issuance.

The post Who Issues Carbon Credits? (Everything You Need To Know) appeared first on Carbon Credits.

WEF and Indonesia Join Hand to Boost Blue Carbon Credits

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The World Economic Forum (WEF) and Indonesia have signed a partnership to ramp up the nation’s blue carbon efforts as well as address the growing demand for blue carbon credits. 

The deal, signed in Davos, Switzerland, will help support Indonesia’s national road map on blue carbon. This, in turn, will drive blue carbon credits financing to promote ocean restoration and conservation efforts. 

Indonesia will be the first national government to have this partnership with the WEF, leveraging its blue carbon resources to meet climate goals. Kristian Teleki, Director, Ocean Action Agenda, WEF remarked:

“As a global leader in blue carbon, having Indonesia as the first national partner with the Forum will set an example of how coordinated action can enhance the contributions of blue carbon for climate, biodiversity and societal benefits.”

Meeting the Rising Demand of Blue Carbon Credits

The partnership is the first of a series under the WEF’s initiative “Ocean Action Agenda”. It seeks to connect global blue carbon actors from different sectors.

It will also unlock knowledge, engage champions, build collaborations, and create innovation in these impact areas:

Ocean innovation
Blue food
Climate and resilience
Business and policy transformation

With those initiatives, the end goal is to help meet the rapidly increasing demand for high-quality blue carbon credits and projects worldwide. 

What is Blue Carbon?

Teleki from WEF also noted about blue carbon:

“Blue carbon holds immense potential for marine ecosystem restoration and coastal community resilience, while contributing to climate mitigation and helping raise critical funds to advance the urgent needs for ocean protection and conservation.”

Blue carbon refers to the carbon captured and sequestered by ocean ecosystems. It stores up to 5x more carbon per acre than tropical rainforests.  

Common examples of marine ecosystems are mangrove forests, seagrasses and salt marshes. These ecosystems are among the most intensive carbon sinks in the world.

Here’s how a typical blue carbon ecosystem works in absorbing carbon. 

These marine habitats are also critical in protecting coastlines from storms and other natural disasters. Let alone serving as nurseries for fish stocks while providing food sources and jobs for coastal communities.

Growing and conserving those carbon-absorbing ecosystems produce blue carbon credits. These carbon credits usually trade at a premium. That is because of the large positive second-order effects of blue carbon projects such as the positive effects on corals, algae, and marine biodiversity. 

Market analysis also shows that global demand for carbon credits is growing as businesses are working hard to offset their emissions. Countries are also striving to achieve their carbon reduction goals.

The island nation of The Bahamas is among the first nations to sell blue carbon credits.  

Blue carbon credits help raise critical funds to advance ocean protection and conservation.

WEF and Indonesia Blue Carbon Partnership

Indonesia, the world’s biggest archipelago nation, is a leader in blue carbon and the sustainable ocean economy. It is home to the largest blue carbon resources in the world – about 20% of the world’s remaining mangroves).

It was the president of the G20 last year tasked to fast-track sustainable blue economies in the region. 

Prior to this blue carbon deal, the WEF had launched the Ocean 20 (O20) with the Indonesian government last November 2022. 

Luhut B. Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment said the country plans to rehabilitate 600,000 hectares of mangroves by 2024. The minister further added that:

“We have the largest and most diverse mangrove forests in the world… Creating this partnership between Indonesia and the Forum to work on blue carbon will really help accelerate our efforts for climate action.”

The blue carbon pact between the WEF and Indonesia will bring together stakeholders across sectors and initiatives in blue carbon. This, in turn, will help drive blue carbon projects financing.

The WEF will continue to promote blue carbon efforts and support countries in achieving their national climate ambitions and initiatives. 

The organization further leads the implementation of the High-Quality Blue Carbon Principles and Guidance that was launched at the United Nations Conference COP27. It’s a product of a collaboration between the WEF and world leaders working on blue carbon. 

It outlines a set of clear principles and guidance that describe what “high-quality” means for blue carbon projects and credits, with the goal of preserving and restoring blue carbon ecosystems.

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T-Mobile Commits to 2040 Net Zero Target

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T-Mobile revealed its net zero emissions target across all Scopes – 1, 2, and 3 – with the Science Based Targets initiative’s (SBTi) approval.

T-Mobile’s net zero pledge is the first among U.S. wireless providers with SBTi validation. The company’s CEO Mike Sievert commented:

“As we know sustainability is important to our customers and stakeholders, T-Mobile has made great progress in reducing our environmental footprint – and now we’re taking even bigger steps to reduce our carbon emissions with a commitment to meeting SBTi’s Net-Zero Standard.”

With a science-based approach, America’s supercharged Un-carrier aims to achieve two major targets.

Near-term target: cut absolute Scope 1, 2, and 3 GHG emissions 55% by 2030.
Long-term target: achieve net zero emissions across all scopes by reducing absolute emissions by 90% by 2040.  

T-Mobile Joins The Climate Pledge

As part of its net zero commitment, the 5G provider also said that it now becomes one of the 400+ members of The Climate Pledge. Co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism in 2019, the Pledge is a collective commitment to reach net zero 10 years ahead of the Paris climate goal. 

By joining the pact, T-Mobile and other members agree to do these climate actions:

Measure and report GHG emissions regularly;
Implement net zero strategies in line with the Paris Agreement through real business changes and innovations
Offsets any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent, and socially beneficial carbon offset credits.

Global Lead of The Climate Pledge at Amazon said that they’re “thrilled to see the comprehensive and thoughtful pathway they [T-Mobile] have charted to achieve net zero carbon by 2040”.

Here’s how the path of T-Mobile to 2040 net zero looks like in four scenarios.

Peter Osvaldik, the company’s CFO stated in T-Mobile’s net zero pathway report:

“T-Mobile has led the wireless industry with our commitment to sustainably managing our environmental footprint, and now we’re continuing to raise the bar with this ambitious net-zero emissions goal. Big, bold programs like this will not only have tremendously important positive outcomes on climate–they are also good business.”

Strategies to Curb Carbon Footprint

In 2021, powering its 5G network emits the bulk of T-Mobile’s operational footprint (Scopes 1 & 2). 

5G has the potential to be the most sustainable generation of wireless networks because it uses less energy per data transmitted and supports more devices. But it needs more energy for infrastructure equipment. 

The telecom provider reduces emissions by focusing first on decreasing energy use and investing in energy efficient technologies. The company is employing high-efficiency rectifiers, antennas, lighting controls, and cabinet designs. They can improve cellular equipment performance and boost energy efficiency, too. 

T-Mobile is further cutting its network energy demands with these measures: 

Decommissioning tens of thousands of macro cell sites
Replacing air conditioning units with direct air-cooling fan doors
Optimizing energy consumption via network software 

AI, with its advanced data analytics, can optimize energy use and save power based on traffic and weather. The company is also adopting efficient technologies in its data centers, e.g. smart thermostats and lighting controls. 

The company was able to meet its renewable energy goal to power its business with 100% renewable electricity. It will continue to source renewable energy to keep its operational emissions low.

Beyond Operations: Reducing Scope 3 

T-Mobile includes Scope 3 in its net zero target, which is even a more ambitious move. It accounts for 71% of the company’s total carbon emissions from across its value chain. 

Ironically, the 5G network provider has the least control of this emission source that has the biggest impact. It comprises of the following components:

T-Mobile keeps track and reports on those 10 categories of Scope 3 emissions. That’s crucial to its business leaning on the collaboration with its major suppliers. 

As seen in the chart above, emissions from product transportation and distribution take up a large portion of the firm’s Scope 3 source. This includes both upstream (from suppliers to distribution centers) and downstream (from distribution centers to retail stores) logistics. 

T-Mobile seeks to slash these sources through a more energy-efficient network of logistics and distribution. For example, the company removed 833 trucks and 313 expedite vans from the road in 2021. That’s made possible by optimizing shipping that saves around 2,241 MT of CO2e.

To hit its net zero goal, T-Mobile is further reducing Scope 3 emissions by:

Maximizing the use of space in its vehicles, 
Reducing fuel consumption, and 
Switching to lower-emission fuel sources.

T-Mobile engages with stakeholders throughout its supply chain to identify and address emissions hotspots. Then the company implements the necessary sustainability initiatives.

Lastly, even if end-of-life treatment of sold products and waste make up a tiny share in the wireless provider’s footprint, waste remains a big issue for the planet. 

So, T-Mobile is working with 3rd-party contractors to track and measure their municipal waste, hazardous waste, and wastewater. The company also commits to cut waste by recycling, composting, and digitization. 

With regulations getting tighter and stakeholders more demanding, companies with strong net zero pledges and sustainable climate actions tend to have better reputation and gain a competitive edge. 

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BP’s 2023 Outlook for Global Energy Transition: Key Takeaways

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BP Energy Outlook 2023 unlocks the key trends and insights surrounding the global energy transition out to 2050. 

The 2023 Energy Outlook’s three main scenarios – Net Zero, Accelerated, and New Momentum – are meant to explore possible outcomes for the energy system over the next 3 decades. This will help the oil and gas supermajor to devise a strategy that’s resilient to various ways in which the energy system transitions.

It includes major developments from last year such as the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act and the war between Russia and Ukraine. bp’s chief economist, Spencer Dale, noted: 

“Global energy policy and discussions in recent years have been focused on the importance of decarbonising the energy system and the transition to net zero. The events of the past year have served as a reminder to us all that the transition also needs to take account of the security and affordability of energy. Any successful and enduring energy transition needs to address all three elements of the so-called energy trilemma: secure, affordable and lower carbon.”

2023 Outlook of the Energy Transition

3 Scenarios Exploring the Uncertainties of Energy Transition

The three scenarios are not predictions of what is likely to happen nor what bp would like to happen. Instead, they only capture a wide range of the outcomes possible for global energy transition out until the mid-century. 

Accelerated and Net Zero explore how different elements of the energy system may change to achieve large carbon emissions reductions by 2050, by 75% (relative to 2019 levels) in Accelerated and 95% in Net Zero. Both scenarios assume that there’s a significant tightening in climate policies. 

New Momentum reflects the broad trajectory of the global energy system. It emphasizes substantial increases in climate pledges in recent years. Under this scenario, carbon emissions peak in the 2020s and are around 30% below 2019 levels by 2050.

Net Zero also shows a shift in societal behavior and preferences to support gains in energy efficiency and the adoption of low-carbon energy. The CO2 emissions left in this scenario can be eliminated by either additional changes to the energy system or by deploying carbon dioxide removal (CDR). 

Scenarios in Line with “Paris Consistent” IPCC Scenarios

The pace and extent of decarbonization in Accelerated and Net Zero are broadly in line with IPCC scenarios that are consistent with 2ºC and 1.5ºC.

As seen in the chart above, the fall in fossil fuels and industrial emissions in the IPCC scenario is largely due to a 75% decrease in global coal consumption by 2030. 

The fall in coal consumption in Net Zero by 2030 is smaller compared to the decline in oil and natural gas. This goes to say that coal remains an important fuel in emerging economies where demand for energy is expanding. 

4 Trends Dominating the Future of Energy 

bp’s energy transition outlook for 2023 further reveals the key trends that will dominate future energy demand, including:

A declining role for hydrocarbons
Rapid expansion in renewables 
Increasing electrification
The growing use of low-carbon hydrogen

Key Trends Impacting Future Energy Demand

Consumption of fossil fuels falls down in all three energy transition scenarios in the 2023 Outlook. Their share in primary energy declines from 80% in 2019 to around 55% to 20% by 2050. This is the first in modern history that there’s a continued decrease in any fossil fuel demand. 

Meanwhile, all other three trends show sustained increases in demand. 

Renewable energy includes wind, solar power, bioenergy, and also includes geothermal power. The rise in renewables offsets the falling role of fossil fuels. Their share will go up as much as 65% by 2050 because of stronger policy support for low-carbon energy. 

The big importance of renewables is also driven by the growing electrification of the energy system. The share of electricity in energy use goes up from only 20% to between 35% and 50% by 2050. 

Lastly, the growing use of low-carbon hydrogen in hard-to-abate processes that are difficult or costly to electrify supports the decarbonization of the global energy system. This is particularly true in both Accelerated and Net Zero scenarios. The energy used producing low-carbon hydrogen rises to between 13-21% by 2050 in both scenarios.

CCUS and CDR in Decarbonization Pathways

CCUS Role in Enabling Deep Decarbonization Pathways

Carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) plays a central role in supporting the transition to a low-carbon energy system by:

Capturing industrial process emissions
Acting as a source of carbon dioxide removal
Abating emissions from the use of fossil fuels

In all 3 scenarios, around 15% of the CCUS operating in 2050 is used to capture and store non-energy process emissions from cement production. CCUS achieves 4 to 6 GtCO2 by 2050 under Accelerated and Net Zero, with only 1 GtCO2 in New Momentum.

By region, the greatest use of CCUS with natural gas is in the US, followed by the Middle East, Russia, and China. In Accelerated and Net Zero, over 70% of the global deployment of CCUS in 2050 is in emerging economies, led by China and India. 

This requires a very rapid scale-up of CCUS in these countries relative to their historical levels of oil and gas production, which can be used as an indicator of the geological suitability and engineering capability to develop industrial-scale CCUS facilities.

CDR is Necessary to Reach the Paris Climate Goals

Climate scientists at IPCC stated that carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is necessary to achieve the Paris climate goals. CDR includes bioenergy combined with CCUS (BECCS), natural climate solutions (NCS), and direct air carbon capture with storage (DACCS). 

BECCS offers the benefit of creating useful energy and negative carbon emissions. But what limits its full potential is the sustainability of the biomass used and its other uses.

NCS conserve, restore or manage forests, wetlands, grasslands and agricultural lands to increase carbon storage or avoid GHG emissions. They can have co-benefits, such as promoting biodiversity, but it can be hard to ensure and monitor their permanence.

DACCS is a process of capturing CO2 directly from ambient air and then storing it. This CDR tech is scalable and offers certainty on additionality and permanence. But their costs are high relative to other forms of CDR. 

The IPCC 1.5ºC scenario includes a rapid scale-up of both NCS and BECCS. Together, they will reach over 7 GtCO2 per year by 2050. 

The 2023 Energy Outlook is to inform bp’s strategy and to contribute to the wider debate about what shapes the energy transition to net zero. But it’s only one source among many when considering the future of global energy markets. And the oil and gas giant is also using other external analysis and information when deciding on its long-term strategy. 

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