Study reveals the potential impact and readiness of British Columbia’s carbon management solutions to achieve 2050 net-zero objectives
Vancouver, B.C. – March 30, 2022 – The B.C. Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE) has released the B.C. Carbon Management Blueprint, a first of its kind study to help shape British Columbia’s emerging carbon management sector. The study confirms that alongside carbon removal efforts, B.C. must scale up carbon emission avoidance strategies to meet 2050 net-zero targets and remain in line with a 1.5°C future. This includes investment in market accelerants, policies, and the growth of innovative, made-in-BC solutions.
Produced in partnership with Deloitte Canada, the B.C. Carbon Management Blueprint provides an understanding of existing carbon management approaches, the value chain, and the market participants that drive the supply and demand of these solutions. The study serves as a foundational document for B.C. innovators, industry leaders, academia, policy makers, and Indigenous rights holders seeking to:
- Gain insight into both short-term and long-term opportunities for carbon management innovation and the carbon offset market in B.C.
- Identify unmet needs and technology gaps in high-emitting industries, including oil and gas, cement, mining, steel, and heavy-duty transportation.
- Implement competitive clean energy policies and market accelerants that attract new investment and retain world-leading companies in B.C.
Carbon management refers to a suite of nature-based, hybrid, and engineered solutions that either avoid the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere or remove emitted CO2 from the atmosphere. The captured carbon is subsequently stored in geological basis, biomass, or ocean reservoirs, converted into a mineral form, or utilized in various products, such as synthetic fuels.
Key findings of the B.C. Carbon Management Blueprint include:
- B.C. has about 18 million tonnes per year of carbon management capacity, including both avoidance and removal solutions, representing about 25% of the 64.6 million tonnes of fossil-based emissions released in the province in 2020 (not including biogenic emissions).
- Nature-based solutions, with the right measuring, monitoring, and verification methods, are ready to be deployed at scale in B.C. offering the greatest near-term opportunity for carbon management.
- Engineered solutions such as industrial point source capture and storage, DAC, and BECCS/BioDAC are vital for decarbonizing heavy emitting industries, but large-scale local deployment is unlikely without further research into carbon storage potential and advancement of transportation infrastructure, electricity production, regulatory policies, and protocols to integrate projects with the B.C. offset market.
- Hybrid solutions combining nature and technology elements such as ocean-based solutions, biochar, and mineralization are the least mature in terms of commercial readiness, but the longer-term potential in B.C. is promising as technologies, markets, and policies mature.
- Synthetic fuels hold high potential for carbon utilization to be deployed in B.C. – spurred on by the pulp and paper sector’s significant biogenic emissions, B.C.’s low carbon fuel standard and Clean Fuels Regulation, and anticipated demand from the transportation, aviation, and marine shipping industries.
- Download the Report
Quotes
“The B.C. Carbon Management Blueprint goes beyond the traditional focus on carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) attached to large scale emitters. It examines the wide variety of emerging ideas, approaches and technologies being developed in British Columbia to accelerate decarbonization and achieve our 2050 net-zero objectives. The challenge lies in bridging the gap between meeting net-zero emissions targets and the commercial readiness of existing technologies. This research is critical to guiding CICE’s future investment in innovation and deep-dive intelligence.”
Ged McLean, Executive Director of the B.C. Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE)
“For the Haisla Nation, nature-based carbon management activities are important for carbon removal potential – but they also play a critical role in improving social outcomes for our communities. One example of this would be addressing riparian restoration that brings salmon back to streams thereby strengthening connections to family, culture, and traditions. This also creates economic opportunities to generate carbon credit revenues that feed into more restoration activities. We believe that the co-benefits of these projects are equally if not more valuable in building sustainable and resilient communities. The B.C. Carbon Management Blueprint is foundational towards recognizing opportunities for Indigenous climate leadership, ownership and partnerships in carbon management initiatives.”
Candice Wilson, Environmental Manager for Haisla Nation Council
“The portfolio of technologies identified in the blueprint highlight some of the unique opportunities for B.C. to lead global development of hybrid carbon management technologies. For example, mineralization requires a mineral feedstock which can be provided by mining. For the mining industry, the transition in our energy systems away from fossil fuels presents a paradox. We need a significant amount of critical minerals for batteries and other green energy infrastructure, and this will mean a dramatic increase in the scale of the world’s mining industry. But mining has traditionally been associated with a large environmental footprint, including a significant proportion of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. This blueprint shows that there is a pathway to combine critical mineral resource development with carbon management, and that BC science and technology can lead the way to meet this challenge.”
Dr Greg Dipple, Co-Founder and Head of Science of Arca
“As a proud BC-based carbon capture and removal technology provider with solutions for post-combustion carbon capture and direct air capture, we’ve been diligently working to decarbonize the world’s heavy industries and the atmosphere since we started the company in 2007. To date, we have accomplished raising 500-million USD and we’ve partnered with leading organizations from around the world to scale up and tackle the CO2 emissions challenge from all angles. Our next step is commercial deployment.”
Brett Henkel, Co-Founder and VP, Strategic Accounts & Gov’t Affairs, Svante
“B.C. is recognized as a world-leading hub for cleantech innovation – an active community that is pushing the boundaries across the carbon management value chain. Combined with the geographical advantage of vast forest coverage and extensive coastlines, the province is well positioned to scale a variety of engineered, hybrid and nature-based carbon management solutions. We are well positioned to lead the way in carbon management globally.”
Nathan Steeghs, Partner in Sustainability & Climate Change for Deloitte Canada
For questions or interviews, please contact info@cice.ca
