Negative Emissions Technologies in the Climate Change Plan update
In December 2020, the Scottish Government launched the draft Climate Change Plan update – setting out how Scotland will reduce emissions by 2032, including how we will meet our crucial 2030 emissions reductions target.
However, the plan was heavily reliant on ‘Negative Emissions Technologies’, including Carbon Capture and Storage and Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage to reduce our emissions by the end of the decade.
This briefing sets out FoES’ significant concerns about the heavy reliance on these technologies, including:
- The lack of a ‘plan b’ if NETs don’t deliver as promised, crucial given the clear historic trend for NETs to be over-promised and under-delivered, and new research finding that existing CCS is being predominantly used for carbon emitting oil extraction that wouldn’t have otherwise been possible.
- The same research shows that a focus on CCS will not help achieve 2030 CO2 emission reduction targets, and questions should be asked over assumptions underpinning the NETs figures in the CCPu
- Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) is not carbon neutral and has adverse effects on biodiversity, forestry, land use and soil carbon.
- CCS is fundamentally unnecessary in sectors where more cost effective and cleaner options to cut CO2 exist, such as focusing investment into wide scale renewables and energy efficiency