We had the privilege of attending CASC and Carbon Gap’s full-day seminar at Blair Estate outside of Glasgow with the aim of discussing conditions and challenges to accelerating carbon removal in general and BECCS in particular.
We met approximately 50 participants from academia, different organizations, agencies and governments, including representatives from the US Department of Energy and the European Parliament, and several actors working in carbon removal such as Climeworks, Carbonext, Northern Lights, Future Forest Company and Elon Musk’s innovation company Xprize, among others.
We were given the opportunity to present our BECCS project and the challenges we see in implementing it. We have obtained new insights and understanding of where different countries and organizations find themselves in the carbon removal journey.
Over an intensive day these issues were discussed and several workshops were conducted to create a broader picture and understanding of carbon removal’s different dimensions. What policies, economic instruments and standards are required, what is required to increase demand, and what are the positive stories and successes within the field that need to reach the general public and put consumer pressure on companies and politicians?
On day 2, Microsoft invited us to participate in the seminar “Building the Market for Scaling Carbon Renewal.” We discussed the same issues but were more focused on how to truly accelerate the market and how to build up the industry with the aim of achieving economies of scale and creating transparency and trust. We also discussed the North-South problem, the need for more renewable electricity and how to standardize one ton of carbon dioxide in a way that helps buyers understand what they are purchasing. Even here we had the opportunity to present our BECCS project, our challenges and what we believe needs be put in place quickly in order for us to be able to invest.
I can fully state that Stockholm Exergi has a well-founded idea with regards to both resource and climate efficiency and what is required for developing a business model. I am more than convinced that what we are doing is right and we are taking a leadership role on this issue. We are not just developing a technical solution but also a business model that can have global impact. So even if it is difficult, we are on the right track.
We can make a real difference and that is a challenge as well. The difference between doing small symbolic actions and truly achieving large-scale carbon removal is huge. The former is relatively simple and we could say that we’ve already done that through our test facility (one of the larger carbon removal sources in Stockholm). Making it large-scale impacts the region, nation and the world. It would make a real difference and it is of course much more difficult. But we can and we will make it happen.
