£8.6m funding for UK research into greenhouse gas removal

21 Apr 2017 12:24 PM

New research will investigate ways to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere to counteract global warming.

UK researchers are looking into ways to meet the goal set out by the 2015 Paris Agreement – to keep global temperature rise well below 2°C and limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Alongside significant emission reductions, large-scale removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere could considerably increase the likelihood of achieving this goal.

The £8.6 million research programme will look at several options, including investigating the potential for increasing carbon storage in agricultural soil and forests, and at new ways to remove methane gas from the air on a local scale.

Other researchers will look into using waste materials from mining as a greenhouse gas removal technique, and explore how bioenergy crops could be used in power stations in combination with carbon capture and storage methods.

STFC and the Met Office are providing in-kind support for the programme, which is jointly funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Four interdisciplinary, multi-institute consortium and seven topic-specific projects have been awarded funding. Around 100 researchers from 40 UK universities and partner organisations will be involved, and seven research studentships, providing PhD training will also be supported.

Summaries of the projects can be found on the NERC website.