Periodic Reporting for period 2 - NEGEM (Quantifying and Deploying Responsible Negative Emissions in Climate Resilient Pathways)
Reporting period: 2021-12-01 to 2022-11-30
The IPCC climate change mitigation scenarios show that negative emissions are likely needed to limit the global warming to 1.5°C or 2°C degrees, in addition to drastic emission reductions in all sectors. However, the need for negative emission technologies and practices (NETPs) in these scenarios is often demand based. The main objective of NEGEM is to understand the realistic potential for negative emissions, when considering their technical, environmental, socio-political, and commercial aspects and limitations. It is crucial to avoid unwanted consequences for environment and societies when applying NETPs to achieve the mitigation targets. NEGEM studies to what extent are NETPs required to achieve climate neutrality and what role they have in EU’s goal for climate neutrality by 2050 (and beyond). In addition, NEGEM studies how to formulate policies and governance structures to optimise the deployment of NETPs within the overall climate architecture.
During the second reporting period, NEGEM work deepened the understanding of the characteristics and limitations related to NETPs. Analytical tools and methods to assess the NETPs have been developed. These results have fed the ongoing crosscutting exercise to analyse the selected NETPs more in detail and develop the framework for analysing pathways toward sustainable climate neutrality. The results will become available in the public deliverables (D’s) [1]:
- The overall sustainability of several NETPs has been studied by life cycle assessment methods and key performance indicators (KPIs) defined [2], including: terrestrial (D1.2) and marine (D1.3) NETPs, and bioenergy combined with CO2 capture and storage (D1.4) geoengineering and other NETPs (D1.5). The sustainability performance of the NETPs studied has been compared in D3.8.
- The work to update models (LPJmL, MONET-EU, JEDI, TIMES-VTT) to assess impacts and enable modelling for NEGEM scenarios. Updates completed e.g. on vegetation dynamics, limitations on biomass supply (D3.1) metals and minerals (D3.9) data on new negative emission technologies (D7.2) and socio-economic impacts (D7.3). Software tool prototype has been developed to explore scenarios (D4.4). Burden sharing principles for CDRs in EU Member States have been studied (D4.3).
- Analysis of impacts of NETPs on interacting planetary boundaries (D3.2)
- Impacts of ocean-based NETPs (D3.5) key non-renewable resource chains for metals and minerals in mitigation pathways (D3.9) and large-scale re-/afforestation on ecosystem services in Nordics (D3.6) studied
- Several commercialisation mechanisms for negative emissions (D2.1) and features of nature based vs. engineered solutions (D2.2) have been studied, including non-CO2 NETPs (D2.3)
- Social acceptance and stakeholder perceptions of NETPs with several invitation workshops (D5.3) sentiment analysis on literature (D5.1) and interviews with key stakeholders (D5.2)
- Two public databases created related to negative emission technologies and bio-geophysics (D4.1 D4.2). Open-access NEGEM database established and designed (D8.5) [3]
- Definitions and accounting rules for negative emissions have been discussed, studied, and disseminated (D6.2) alongside with global governance of NETPs - global supply chains and coherent accounting (D6.3)
- NEGEM scenarios and pathways work started with mapping mitigation scenarios and workshop (D8.1). Subsequently, preliminary quantitative assessments on IAM based scenarios for deployment of NETPs (D8.6) and process of formulation of pathways based on co-creation and foresight methods (D8.7) were reported.
There are several policy relevant NEGEM activities completed:
- During the fall 2020, European Commission’s proposal for the first European Climate Law aiming for climate neutrality by 2050 was discussed in NEGEM, especially the definition and role of CDR in the Law. The results were published as an opinion paper in Nature in January 2021 [4]. 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 separate in intermediate climate targets.
- Several NEGEM workshops have been organised: in November 2020, on the definitional principles of carbon dioxide removal [5], and in December 2020, on a clear, shared, medium-to-long term vision on NETPs, and on their role in contributing to the climate targets [6]. At COP26 in November 2021, NEGEM participated in a panel discussion “Policy, business, and social challenges for carbon dioxide removals and carbon capture & storage” in the EU-Pavilion [7]. Side-events “The realistic deployment potential of Carbon Dioxide Removal” at COP26 [8], and on Global Governance of CDR at COP27 in November 2022 (D6.7) [9] were organized by Bellona.
- NEGEM participated in two EU Climate Neutrality Policy & Knowledge Sharing Events, and moderated the session on NETPs in December 2021. A briefing note on the way CDR is handled in the IPCC AR6 WGIII report was published in May 2022 [10]. Workshop on the impacts of including NETPs in Europe’s ETS was organized in April 2022 [11], and NGO workshop on the concept of ‘producer responsibility’ for carbon emissions in September 2022.
NEGEM has co-operated with "sister" projects on negative emissions, LANDMARC and OceanNETs. NEGEM External Advisory Board has been established with active participation. Active presence in social media has been established. Dissemination and coordination channels of NEGEM have been established, with presence in several dissemination events. Several outputs were presented by NEGEM at the 2nd International Conference on Negative CO2 Emissions in Gothenburg, Sweden June 14-17, 2022 [12].
References:
[1] https://www.negemproject.eu/results/
[2] https://www.negemproject.eu/news/assessing-the-sustainable-deployment-potential-of-netps/
[3] https://www.negemproject.eu/database/
[4] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03643-0
[5] https://www.negemproject.eu/news/on-the-way-to-climate-neutrality-workshop-presentations-now-available/
[6] https://www.negemproject.eu/news/negative-emissions-technologies-and-practices-building-a-vision-towards-climate-neutrality/
[7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xgo5KxaA5AU
[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2jBNeGCI9E&t=2s
[9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmM7Z0VR24U
[10] https://www.negemproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/NEGEM-Briefing-on-role-of-CDR-in-IPCC-AR6-WGIII.pdf
[11] https://www.negemproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/ETS-workshop-report-v3.pdf
[12] https://www.negemproject.eu/news/2nd-international-conference-on-negative-co2-emissions/
- The overall sustainability of several NETPs has been studied by life cycle assessment methods and key performance indicators (KPIs) defined [2], including: terrestrial (D1.2) and marine (D1.3) NETPs, and bioenergy combined with CO2 capture and storage (D1.4) geoengineering and other NETPs (D1.5). The sustainability performance of the NETPs studied has been compared in D3.8.
- The work to update models (LPJmL, MONET-EU, JEDI, TIMES-VTT) to assess impacts and enable modelling for NEGEM scenarios. Updates completed e.g. on vegetation dynamics, limitations on biomass supply (D3.1) metals and minerals (D3.9) data on new negative emission technologies (D7.2) and socio-economic impacts (D7.3). Software tool prototype has been developed to explore scenarios (D4.4). Burden sharing principles for CDRs in EU Member States have been studied (D4.3).
- Analysis of impacts of NETPs on interacting planetary boundaries (D3.2)
- Impacts of ocean-based NETPs (D3.5) key non-renewable resource chains for metals and minerals in mitigation pathways (D3.9) and large-scale re-/afforestation on ecosystem services in Nordics (D3.6) studied
- Several commercialisation mechanisms for negative emissions (D2.1) and features of nature based vs. engineered solutions (D2.2) have been studied, including non-CO2 NETPs (D2.3)
- Social acceptance and stakeholder perceptions of NETPs with several invitation workshops (D5.3) sentiment analysis on literature (D5.1) and interviews with key stakeholders (D5.2)
- Two public databases created related to negative emission technologies and bio-geophysics (D4.1 D4.2). Open-access NEGEM database established and designed (D8.5) [3]
- Definitions and accounting rules for negative emissions have been discussed, studied, and disseminated (D6.2) alongside with global governance of NETPs - global supply chains and coherent accounting (D6.3)
- NEGEM scenarios and pathways work started with mapping mitigation scenarios and workshop (D8.1). Subsequently, preliminary quantitative assessments on IAM based scenarios for deployment of NETPs (D8.6) and process of formulation of pathways based on co-creation and foresight methods (D8.7) were reported.
There are several policy relevant NEGEM activities completed:
- During the fall 2020, European Commission’s proposal for the first European Climate Law aiming for climate neutrality by 2050 was discussed in NEGEM, especially the definition and role of CDR in the Law. The results were published as an opinion paper in Nature in January 2021 [4]. 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 separate in intermediate climate targets.
- Several NEGEM workshops have been organised: in November 2020, on the definitional principles of carbon dioxide removal [5], and in December 2020, on a clear, shared, medium-to-long term vision on NETPs, and on their role in contributing to the climate targets [6]. At COP26 in November 2021, NEGEM participated in a panel discussion “Policy, business, and social challenges for carbon dioxide removals and carbon capture & storage” in the EU-Pavilion [7]. Side-events “The realistic deployment potential of Carbon Dioxide Removal” at COP26 [8], and on Global Governance of CDR at COP27 in November 2022 (D6.7) [9] were organized by Bellona.
- NEGEM participated in two EU Climate Neutrality Policy & Knowledge Sharing Events, and moderated the session on NETPs in December 2021. A briefing note on the way CDR is handled in the IPCC AR6 WGIII report was published in May 2022 [10]. Workshop on the impacts of including NETPs in Europe’s ETS was organized in April 2022 [11], and NGO workshop on the concept of ‘producer responsibility’ for carbon emissions in September 2022.
NEGEM has co-operated with "sister" projects on negative emissions, LANDMARC and OceanNETs. NEGEM External Advisory Board has been established with active participation. Active presence in social media has been established. Dissemination and coordination channels of NEGEM have been established, with presence in several dissemination events. Several outputs were presented by NEGEM at the 2nd International Conference on Negative CO2 Emissions in Gothenburg, Sweden June 14-17, 2022 [12].
References:
[1] https://www.negemproject.eu/results/
[2] https://www.negemproject.eu/news/assessing-the-sustainable-deployment-potential-of-netps/
[3] https://www.negemproject.eu/database/
[4] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03643-0
[5] https://www.negemproject.eu/news/on-the-way-to-climate-neutrality-workshop-presentations-now-available/
[6] https://www.negemproject.eu/news/negative-emissions-technologies-and-practices-building-a-vision-towards-climate-neutrality/
[7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xgo5KxaA5AU
[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2jBNeGCI9E&t=2s
[9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmM7Z0VR24U
[10] https://www.negemproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/NEGEM-Briefing-on-role-of-CDR-in-IPCC-AR6-WGIII.pdf
[11] https://www.negemproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/ETS-workshop-report-v3.pdf
[12] https://www.negemproject.eu/news/2nd-international-conference-on-negative-co2-emissions/
Based on real-world, multi-disciplinary assessments, NEGEM will quantify the potential for NETP deployment in a socially, environmentally and economically conscious manner by creating a comprehensive, quantitative analytical framework.
The multi-disciplinary approach of NEGEM enables to provide a comprehensive analysis of the effectiveness, potential and impacts of NETPs based on advanced, new and combined knowledge. This analysis will feed forward to a medium-to-long term vision and comprehensive framework with guidance on how to create, select, analyse and disseminate concrete pathways with NETPs supporting the EU’s ambition to implement the Paris Agreement targets within the frames of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The multi-disciplinary approach of NEGEM enables to provide a comprehensive analysis of the effectiveness, potential and impacts of NETPs based on advanced, new and combined knowledge. This analysis will feed forward to a medium-to-long term vision and comprehensive framework with guidance on how to create, select, analyse and disseminate concrete pathways with NETPs supporting the EU’s ambition to implement the Paris Agreement targets within the frames of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.