Norman Henderson Memorial Lecture : Carbon management – extraction or climate, who is winning?
Add to calLecture Theatre A, Bute Building, Westburn Lane, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, KY16 9TS & ONLINE
Humans have been adapting their environment for thousands of years. But the consequences of fossil fuels powering industrialisation are conveniently ignored. Atmospheric CO2 is now at the level of 100,000 years ago when sea level was 9m higher. Observations of the present day show than multiple tipping points could be crossed with imminent consequences releasing frozen arctic methane, pole-ward movement of climate belts damaging ecosystems halting or diverting ocean currents.
It is possible to decrease emissions which drive climate change. Carbon capture and storage has operated commercially since 1996. That can intercept emissions from industry and heat, or can recover already emitted CO2 from atmosphere – to store CO2 kilometres deep in porous sediments beneath UK seas. These can be your jobs of the future – from political economy to earth science. This future injection industry is being developed now by UK government and other EU nations. But is slow. Can new types of mandate increase this rate 100-fold, and can international market certificates of storage enable all nations to participate in Net Zero before 2050?
The carbon war is happening now – with UK Government planning to ban all new onshore hydrocarbon extraction. And with UK supreme court ensuring that emissions from fuel are included in the Environmental Impact of fossil fuel extraction offshore. Will the Cambo field continue development, will Rosebank and Jackdaw be the last new fields in the North Sea. Or will USA advocates of fracked shale increase production, and more coal be sold to Africa, and burned in China. Or will incumbent corporations escape from climate responsibility, so that deliberate climate engineering becomes inevitable?
