A New Coalition for Negative Emissions study that shows that negative emissions solutions including BECCS, DACS and NCS can each provide at least 1Gt of sustainable negative emissions, and that as 1Gt of negative emissions are needed globally by 2025, keeping global warming within the Paris Agreement target of 1.5C cannot be achieved without them.


The newly formed Coalition for Negative Emissions, with members including Bank of America, Climeworks, Drax, IAG and Viridor.


The Coalition research, conducted with knowledge and analytical support from McKinsey & Company states that to limit global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels efforts to reduce emissions must be combined with annual negative emissions of up to 1.2Gt by 2025 – equivalent to more than three times the UK’s annual CO2 emissions.


The study shows negative emissions solutions including bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), direct air capture and storage (DACS), and natural climate solutions (NCS) such afforestation, are all proven and can each provide at least 1Gt of sustainable negative emissions. In addition to achieving global climate targets, deploying these solutions at scale could create up to 10 million new jobs worldwide.


However, based on the current pipeline of projects, the Coalition research finds the level of negative emissions required by 2025 in the IPCC’s 1.5C pathway will likely be missed by 80 per cent. Investment in negative emissions solutions must also increase by 30 times current levels to meet the needs of the pathway. If there is no action until 2030, around 8Gt of negative emissions debt will have been built-up.


Will Gardiner, CEO of Drax Group, a founding member of the Coalition for Negative Emissions, said: “Negative emissions solutions are proven and ready to go but in order to play a critical role in tackling the climate crisis, they must be deployed much faster than current projections. The UK, alongside international partners, has a once in a generation opportunity to lead the world in deploying negative emissions solutions – tackling climate change and saving economies billions while creating millions of new green jobs around the world.”


The report: The case for Negative Emissions also notes that average negative emissions costs would be around £50 to100/tCO2, once deployed at scale.


The Coalition for Negative Emissions (CNE) was formed to support the development of negative emissions technologies globally and includes more than 20 businesses and other organisations from a variety of sectors, including utilities, aviation, banking, energy, and agriculture.

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