The Grantham Institute hosts a panel discussion to launch its latest Briefing Paper, BECCS deployment: a reality check.
Please register for your ticket.
The paper explores the role that bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technologies can really play in meeting global climate change targets. The authors, Mathilde Fajardy, Dr. Alexandre Köberle, Dr. Niall Mac Dowell, Dr. Andrea Fantuzzi, consider different BECCS technologies, the energy and environmental costs and benefits associated with each, and why BECCS can only make a limited contribution to climate change goals.
The panel will discuss the issues raised in the paper in more detail, particularly why there is a limit to the contribution that BECCS can make in the shift to a low-carbon economy.
Panel members
- Mathilde Fajardy & Dr. Alexandre Köberle, authors of the briefing paper – BECCS deployment: a reality check | @alexkoberle @MathildeFajardy
- Rebecca Heaton, Group Head of Sustainability and Policy, Drax Group | @Draxnews
- Keith Whiriskey, Deputy Director, Bellona | @keithwhir @Bellona_EU
- Jo Howes, Principal Consultant – London, E4tech | @from_E4tech
Chair: Dr Joanna Portugal Pereira, Senior Scientist at the IPCC Working Group III based at Imperial’s Centre for Environmental Policy | @joanna_portugal
The panel discussion will be followed by a drinks reception in the foyer.
Follow the event on Twitter: @Grantham_IC | #BECCSreality
Biographies
Dr. Alexandre Köberle
Dr Alexandre Köberle is a Research Associate at the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London. He works on long-term scenarios of socio-environmental change, with special focus on the energy-land-climate nexus to assess the potential trade-offs and synergies in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He is lead author in UNEP’s Global Environmental Outlook and in the IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report.
Mathilde Fajardy
Mathilde Fajardy is a PhD student at the Centre for Process Systems Engineering and the Centre for Environmental Policy. Her PhD investigates the potential of negative emissions technologies for climate mitigation, with a focus on bio-energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). She holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Energy Engineering from Ecole Centrale Paris.
Rebecca Heaton
Rebecca Heaton is Head of Sustainability and Policy at Drax Group. She is responsible for the sustainability of the global forest supply chains used to produce biomass for its power station, and for research and policy work. She has extensive experience working for a number of energy businesses on a range of topics, including, biofuels, land-use and forestry, and climate change adaptation.
Keith Whiriskey
Keith Whiriskey is Deputy Director of Bellona Europa and has worked as a CCS specialist since 2011. At Bellona his fields of responsibility include the development of CCS in energy and industry policy. He has contributed to a diverse number of projects including techno economic modelling along with energy policy and economic incentives for industrial deep decarbonisation, CCS development, as well as renewable integration and life cycle assessments. Keith holds an MSc in Carbon Capture and Storage from the University of Edinburgh and a BSc in Geology from the National University of Ireland.
Jo Howes
Jo Howes began working at E4tech in 2002, and now leads the firm’s work on energy innovation and policy. She has a broad knowledge of energy and environment policy and regulatory issues, with particular expertise in biofuels and hydrogen. Jo has worked on numerous strategy and policy projects, covering bioenergy, low carbon transport, novel technologies, estimates of future technology and market potential, lifecycle greenhouse gas methodologies, and innovation systems. From 2011 to 2014 she was a Strategy Advisor at BP Biofuels, responsible for managing emerging issues in policy, sustainability, and technology. Jo previously worked with the UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, writing their briefing note ‘Prospects for a hydrogen economy’. Jo holds degrees in Materials Science and Metallurgy from the University of Cambridge and in Environmental Technology with Energy Policy from Imperial.
Dr Joanna Portugal Pereira
Joana Portugal Pereira is a Senior Scientist at the IPCC Working Group III on Mitigation of Climate Change based at the Centre for Environmental Policy of Imperial College London. Her research interests focus on energy system innovations towards mitigation of global and local environmental impacts. She has a vast experience in developing environmental mode lling tools to better understand the economic and environmental co-benefits of low carbon energy portfolios and to deliver policy recommendations. Prior to joining Imperial, Portugal Pereira was an invited Assistant Professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (COPPE-UFRJ), Brazil, in the Energy Planning Program (PPE). She has also developed work on energy and climate policy for the United Nations Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS, Japan) and the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBi, Japan).