Britain must spend £30bn to strip CO2 from atmosphere and hit net zero, experts warn

By Paul Homewood

h/t Doug Brodie

Britain must invest £30bn in a network of massive air cleansing systems designed to strip CO2 from the atmosphere if it is to reach net zero, a government-funded report has warned.

The “direct air carbon capture systems” would remove up to 48 million tonnes of CO2 from the air each year and then pump it into disused oil and gas reservoirs under the North Sea or Irish Sea.

Without such a scheme the UK will never reach its target of net zero emissions by 2050, according to the report by Energy Systems Catapult, a government-funded body that promotes innovation.

It also warns that direct capture will be essential if the UK is to maintain an aviation industry, because aircraft are unlikely ever to run entirely on sustainable fuels.

“Beyond 2040 we see few options to abate remaining emissions so use of direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS) will be required,” it said.

“Direct air capture would collect 38-48 million tonnes of CO2 a year by 2050. This technology appears to be essential to meeting net zero in all our scenarios and yet remains unproven at scale.”

Direct air capture plants would need to be built along the UK’s east coast, from East Anglia to Aberdeen, so that the CO2 captured could be pumped to storage sites under the North Sea, the study said.

The Climate Change Committee, which advises the Government, has described direct air capture as “a necessity, not an option”, for the UK to meet its net zero targets.

A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesman said removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere was essential in helping the UK achieve energy security and independence.

The spokesman added: “The UK has one of the greatest CO2 storage potentials of any country in the world, with the North Sea having the potential to hold an estimated 78 billion tonnes. We are tapping into this potential by investing £20bn in carbon capture and storage, driving economic growth and supporting up to 50,000 jobs.

“We are also investing up to £100m in research and innovation for greenhouse gas removal technologies such as Direct Air Capture.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/04/28/britain-30bn-strip-co2-atmosphere-hit-net-zero/

If the Government has any backbone, it would throw this report in the bin, and assure the public it will not under any circumstances waste taxpayers’ money on green virtue signalling.

After all, if aviation emissions cannot be eliminated, this means the rest of the world will be in the same position, so why should we pay for something which will make no difference?

And as the report admits, they have no idea how or whether this daft idea will actually work. So they also have no idea of its cost – it might be £30bn, or it might be £300bn.

No sane government, (which would rule out one with Ed Miliband in charge!) should even contemplate going down this avenue.

Quite where DESNZ gets the idea that “removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere was essential in helping the UK achieve energy security and independence” is a mystery! Indeed, these carbon capture devices won’t run on moonshine – they will need energy, and lots of it, in turn reducing our energy security.

And as one commenter points out, the report does no come from a “promoter of innovation”, but a govt funded climate change advocacy group: