Results

During the first 18 months of the project (June 2020 – November 2021), NEGEM work concentrated on understanding the characteristics and limitations related to negative emission technologies and practices. The main re sults are described in detail in the deliverables available at this page and include the following:

  • The sustainability of several negative emission technologies and practices was studied by Life Cycle Assessment methods and key performance indicators (KPIs) defined in the beginning of the project. The studies include: terrestrial (D1.2) and marine (D1.3) negative emissions technologies and practices, and bioenergy combined with CO2 capture and storage (BECCS) (D1.4).
  • The update of models used in NEGEM (LPJmL, MONET, TIMES-VTT) has started to enable the modelling for NEGEM scenarios. Updates were made on various factors including e.g. vegetation dynamics, limitations on biomass supply (D3.1), and data on new negative emission technologies (D7.2).
  • Two public databases were published, related to negative emission technologies and bio-geophysics (D4.1D4.2).
  • Several commercialisation mechanisms for negative emissions have been studied (D2.1), as well as specific features of nature based vs. engineered solutions (D2.2).
  • Burden sharing principles for carbon dioxide removals in EU Member States were studied (D4.3).
  • Social acceptance and stakeholder perceptions of NETPs have been studied in several workshops, as well as by sentiment analysis on literature (D5.3).
  • Definitions and accounting rules for negative emissions have been discussed, studied, and disseminated (D6.2).
  • The work towards NEGEM scenarios and pathways has been started by mapping existing mitigation scenarios, and by workshops on NEGEM vision and pathways (D8.1).

Policy Related Activities

Several policy related NEGEM activities were carried out during the first 18 months, in particular:

  • The European Commission’s proposal for the first European Climate Law aiming for climate neutrality by 2050 was discussed in NEGEM, and the results were published as an opinion paper in Nature in January 2021.  NEGEM contributed to the discussions on the European Climate Law by providing information to relevant policymakers on the importance of keeping emission reductions and carbon removals separatein intermediate climate targets.
  • In November 2020, NEGEM organised a workshop to discuss the principles of carbon dioxide removal, concluding that tracing the origin and fate of CO2 is a core requirement which should be accompanied by a robust mechanism to monitor, report and verify the carbon flows and carbon storage.
  • In December 2020, a clear, shared, medium-to-long term vision on NETPs, with a focus on their sustainable potentials and on their role in contributing to the climate targetsat EU and global levels, was discussed in NEGEM workshop.

 

At COP26 in Glasgow, NEGEM participated in a panel discussion “Policy, business, and social challenges for carbon dioxide removals and carbon capture & storage” in the EU-Pavilion. In addition, a dedicated NEGEM side-event “The realistic deployment potential of Carbon Dioxide Removal” was organised by Bellona. 

 

Deliverables

D8.1 Stocktaking of scenarios
with negative emission
technologies and practices

Documentation of the vision making process and initial NEGEM vision

Publications

The meaning of net zero and how to get it right

Sam Fankhauser, Stephen M. Smith, Myles Allen, et al.

A review of commercialisation mechanisms for carbon dioxide removal

Conor Hickey, Sam Fankhauser, Stephen M. Smith, Myles Allen

Net Zero:
Science, Origins, and Implications

Myles R. Allen,Pierre Friedlingstein et al.
Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 2022

CO2 removal and 1.5 °C: what, when, where, and how?

Solene Chiquier, Mathilde Fajardy, Niall Mac Dowell Energy Advances

A comparative analysis of the efficiency, timing, and permanence of CO2 removal pathways

Solene Chiquier, Piera Patrizio, Mai Bui, Nixon Sunnyab, Niall Mac Dowell Energy & Environmental Science

Comparing approaches for carbon dioxide removal

Niall Mac Dowell, David M.Reiner, R. Stuart Haszeldine

Potential of Land-Neutral Negative Emissions Through Biochar Sequestration

C. Werner, W. Lucht, D. Gerten and C. Kammann
Earth's Future 2022 Vol. 10

Human and planetary health implications of negative emissions technologies

Selene Cobo, Ángel Galán-Martín, Victor Tulus, Mark A. J. Huijbregts & Gonzalo Guillén-Gosálbez

Europe’s ‘green deal’ and carbon dioxide removal

Reiner, David M.; Hannula, Ilkka et al. - opinion article published in Nature in January 2021 on behalf of NEGEM Consortium

Upstream decarbonization through a carbon takeback obligation: An affordable backstop climate policy

Jenkins, Stuart; Mitchell-Larson, Eli; Haszeldine, Stuart; Allen, Myles

Sustainable financing of permanent CO2 disposal through a Carbon Takeback Obligation

Stuart Jenkins, Eli Mitchell-Larson, Stuart Haszeldine, Myles Allen, was published in pre-print in Arxiv in July 2020

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