Geoscience and decarbonization: current status and future directions

Michael H Stephenson,Michael Bridden,Sebastian Geiger,Philip Ringrose,David Schofield

doi:10.1144/petgeo2019-084

Abstract

At the 2015 United Nations International Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP21), 197 national parties committed to limit global warming to well below 2°C. But current plans and pace of progress are still far from sufficient to achieve this objective. Here we review the role that geoscience and the subsurface could play in decarbonizing electricity production, industry, transport and heating to meet UK and international climate change targets, based on contributions to the 2019 Bryan Lovell meeting held at the Geological Society of London. Technologies discussed at the meeting involved decarbonization of electricity production via renewable sources of power generation, substitution of domestic heating using geothermal energy, use of carbon capture and storage (CCS), and more ambitious technologies such as bioenergy and carbon capture and storage (BECCS) that target negative emissions. It was noted also that growth in renewable energy supply will lead to increased demand for geological materials to sustain the electrification of the vehicle fleet and other low-carbon technologies. The overall conclusion reached at the 2019 Bryan Lovell meeting was that geoscience is critical to decarbonization, but that the geoscience community must influence decision-makers so that the value of the subsurface to decarbonization is understood.

Highlights

Geoscience has long been understood as part of the solution to decarbonization
A paper in Science magazine ‘Stabilization wedges: Solving the climate problem for the 50 years with current technologies’ by Pacala & Socolow (2004) established the important concept that a number of complementary technological fixes and behavioural changes could be used to bring about emissions reduction of a size that can make a difference for climate change
Several of the wedges have a geoscience aspect including the geological controls on nuclear waste disposal in increased nuclear scenarios and the increased supply of gas to allow a switch of power generation from coal to gas in thermal power stations

Summary

Introduction

Geoscience has long been understood as part of the solution to decarbonization. A paper in Science magazine ‘Stabilization wedges: Solving the climate problem for the 50 years with current technologies’ by Pacala & Socolow (2004) established the important concept that a number of complementary technological fixes and behavioural changes could be used to bring about emissions reduction of a size that can make a difference for climate change. Many of the targets are closely associated with geoscience: for example, the need for exploration and feasibility studies for subsurface renewables such as geothermal, as well as the development of technology for sustainable use of fossil fuels within strict carbon budgets (Table 1).

Results

Conclusion