Archive: first published 2023-11-15. This recovered report describes events at that time and has not been updated to reflect subsequent developments.
Environmental groups are taking the UK government to court over its plans to invest billions in Biomass with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), a technology promoted by the European Union for achieving negative emissions. The Lifescape Project and the Partnership for Policy Integrity (PPI) argue that BECCS relies on flawed accounting assumptions, treating carbon captured from wood burning as negative emissions, which, they contend, is, at best, climate-neutral. This legal challenge asserts that the UK's rationale for BECCS violates international carbon accounting protocols under the Paris Agreement.
The UK government's biomass strategy, released in August, includes provisions for BECCS, portraying it as a mechanism capable of delivering negative emissions. However, scientists emphasize that actual negative emissions occur only after new trees are planted, grown, and absorb the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide, a process that takes decades. The court proceedings highlight that BECCS's carbon payback period is highly uncertain and depends on the type of biomass used.
According to the plaintiffs, counting wood burning with carbon capture as 'negative emissions' is a flawed accounting gimmick. Mary Booth, director at PPI, argues that BECCS provides no net change in carbon emissions, emphasizing the double-counting of carbon removal, which is considered a mathematical mistake or a carbon accounting trick under UN accounting rules.
The legal case could have repercussions beyond the UK and impact the European Union's promotion of BECCS as a negative emissions technology. The European Commission has included BECCS in its certification scheme for carbon removals and allocated funding for a BECCS project in Stockholm. Critics, including Booth, argue that BECCS projects, such as the one in Stockholm, are based on the flawed assumption that biomass is always zero emission, contributing to deforestation and climate change.
The lawsuit challenges the validity of BECCS as a solution to achieving negative emissions, raising questions about the accuracy of accounting practices within the framework of international climate agreements. The court proceedings are scheduled for December 4, 2023.
Original archive: Energy People.
