Is a 100% renewables electricity system compatible with the UK’s Paris Agreement commitments?
Energy Futures Lab hosts a seminar from Ms Habiba Daggash of the Centre for Environmental Policy on the compatibility of a 100% renewable electricity system with the UK’s Paris Agreement commitments.
Abstract
Falling costs of wind and solar power, and the increasing urgency to decarbonise the economy have amplified calls to develop 100% ‘wind, water and sunlight’ dependent electricity systems.
Recent IPCC reports have highlighted that large-scale carbon dioxide removal (CDR) from the atmosphere is critical in avoiding ‘dangerous climate change’ – defined as “well below 2˚C” above pre-industrial levels by the Paris Agreement. Integrated Assessment Models estimate that 430-740 GtCO2 of CDR is necessary by the end of the century to meet the Paris target. How this is to be allocated at country-level and the feasibility of achieving it is not known.
In this talk, we analyse established burden-sharing principles to determine what proportion of the global CDR target the UK would be responsible for. A national-scale power systems model is then used to determine the implications of meeting that CDR target on the optimal energy transition for the UK, and assess its compatibility with a 100% renewables system. The analysis then discusses the techno-economic barriers to realising CDR at scale in the UK, with a particular focus on bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS).
Biography
Habiba is a third year PhD student at the Centre for Environmental Policy and the Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment. She is part of the Clean Fossil and Bioenergy group (CleanFaB) under the supervision of Niall Mac Dowell. Her research focuses on the implications of climate change mitigation objectives on energy system transitions, within the context of geopolitical constraints. She has published articles on the potential of carbon dioxide removal technologies in decarbonising transport and power sectors of the UK. Habiba holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Engineering Science from the University of Oxford. She is also the current Chair of IChemE Energy Centre’s Future Leaders Group and serves on the board of the centre.
Venue
The talk will be held in Room 611 of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (building 16 On the campus map). The room is known as the Gabor Suite.
If you are entering the building from Dalby Court/through the building’s main entrance take the lift to the sixth floor, turn right through the double doors and it is near the end on your left hand side.