New Report on BECCS

A new report on bio-energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) makes a compelling case for accelerated development of this CDR technology. The report, released by the Global CCS Institute, underlines the cost-effectiveness of BECCS as a means of achieving negative emissions, and emphasizes the flexibility of this technology in terms of feedstocks, storage options, and potential co-firing with fossil fuels. Particular attention is paid to the use of BECCS in the pulp and ethanol industries, which is especially promising due to their generation of high purity CO2 streams as part of the production process. However, as with other CDR technologies, market and policy barriers pose obstacles to further expansion: "There is an urgent need to expand the number of BECCS projects in all phases. ... Barriers to deployment need [to] be removed and directed funding will need to be instituted in order to provide equal terms for the BECCS technology relative to other mitigation options" (p. 41).