Many of the top scientists working on carbon capture technologies in the United Kingdom do not believe they will be developed and scaled up in time to reach net-zero greenhouse gas and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C.
At the Greenhouse Gas Removal Hub event, experts warned that techniques like carbon capture are not a “silver bullet,” and should only be a fraction of the efforts to decarbonize. These techniques include direct air capture, biofuels, biochar, afforestation, and enhanced weathering, and others.
The scientists taking part in the event are part of a £70 million ($88.5 million USD) competition funded by the British government to find the best ways to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
These technologies are due to begin removing vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2030.
The British government hopes the winning methods could be scaled up and ready for market in two years.
The UK is throwing its faith behind carbon capture methods. The Department for Transport has even stated that greenhouse gas removal technologies will let Brits take “guilt-free flights” by the end of 2023. Those actually involved in the program are less optimistic.
Prof Mark Taylor, the deputy director of energy innovation at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), said that the UK government’s press release declaring these technologies will enable net zero flights by 2023 is simply “not the case.” He continued that the claim is “a little bit cheeky.”
Greenhouse gas removal is hard and expensive, the chief scientist at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Gideon Henderson said.
The world cannot view greenhouse gas removal as a surrogate to compensate for continued emissions, and is not an excuse not to decarbonize, Henderson said.
Ministers like the idea of carbon capture, but scientists say it may not be the answer, including because of the energy intensity it requires and how expensive it is.
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