Since were discussing (in the comments, at least) carbon budgets and emissions reductions yesterday, I thought I would post this short video of Nebojsa Nakicenovic talking about the riskiness of relying on Bio-Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS). There’s a longer interview with him here.
My personal view is that there is a real Catch-22 here. Can we maintain standards of living in the developed world and have growth in the developing world without BECCS and without increasing our emissions. Very difficult, I would think. On the other hand, is it likely that BECCS will allow us to reduce emissions by > GtC/yr. As the video seems to indicate, this would again seem very difficult.
Despite this, my personal view, is that the first step would be recognising that reducing our emissions is crucial if we want to reduce the risk of significant warming this century. That it is likely to be difficult doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be trying to find solutions. The one thing I do think we have to be careful of, though, is assuming that we’ll find a solution. We could be lucky, but I think we’re more likely to find one if we’re actually looking, than if we’re simply hoping.
