Since the 2015 Conference of the Parties (COP), the majority of nations have worked to progress plans with the aim of limiting the increase in the global average temperature to 1.5ºC. This mission is based on a global scientific consensus coordinated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which states that human activities to provide food, energy, and materials result in emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The scale of these emissions has led to an increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide to its highest level in more than two million years. The IPCC found a strong correlation between the increasing concentration of GHG in the atmosphere and the increase in the average surface temperature of the Earth, which in 2019 reached 1.09ºC. Last year, this exceeded 1.5ºC for the first time, which has unequivocally led to global warming. Focusing on energy, the extraction, processing, and combustion of fossil fuels to provide energy results in the release of carbon dioxide, methane, and other GHGs into the atmosphere. While it represents an unprecedented challenge, a transition away from the use of fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy is considered to be the most effective way of reducing these emissions. The energy transition is progressing, with growth in renewable sources of electric power, along with the scale-up of emerging technologies for the production and use of fuels and chemicals with lower ‘carbon intensities’, including those made with captured carbon. Despite this progress, it is clear both that the transition will take decades and that fossil fuel usage, with its ensuing emissions, will continue for many years before it eventually declines. Short-term actions that can have a meaningful impact on emissions and buy time for the implementation of longer- term emissions reduction approaches on a meaningful scale are crucial during the transition. The use of methane, which would otherwise be flared or emitted in ongoing oil and gas operations, is a prime example of this and a key element in meeting the Global Methane Pledge (zero methane emissions from oil and gas operations by 2030). Carbon capture and storage is recognised by the IPCC as a critical mitigation measure during the transition. Carbon capture and utilisation (CCU or CCUS) goes a step further by reusing captured carbon, which effectively reduces the demand for fossil fuels and moves towards restoring a healthy carbon cycle. Our future will be built on renewable power and low-carbon-intensity hydrogen in combination with recycled carbon from CCU and the repurposing of waste hydrocarbons from plastic and biomass.
Managing Editor Rachel Storry
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Robin Nelson robin.nelson@ decarbonisationtechnology.com Editorial Assistant Lisa Harrison lisa.harrison@emap.com Graphics Peter Harper Business Development Director Paul Mason info@decarbonisationtechnology.com
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Cover Story Standard Carbon is decarbonising a 1 GW combined cycle power plant, operated by the Israel Electric Company. Courtesy: Standard Carbon
Dr Robin Nelson
www.decarbonisationtechnology.com
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