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Climate Technology / Carbon Capture — UPSC Mains Model Answer

Environment · UPSC CSE
Question: Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) — mechanism, potential as a negative emissions technology, and deployment challenges

Introduction

BECCS represents a critical intersection of renewable energy and carbon removal, offering the theoretical possibility of generating power while achieving net negative greenhouse gas emissions — a combination central to many climate mitigation pathways.

Body

1. Mechanism and Logic

BECCS works by cultivating biomass that absorbs atmospheric CO2 during growth, combusting it to generate energy, and then capturing the resulting flue-gas emissions for permanent geological storage. The net effect, under ideal conditions, is that more carbon is sequestered than released, making it a 'negative emissions technology' (NET). IPCC mitigation scenarios frequently rely on BECCS to offset residual emissions from hard-to-abate sectors.

2. Role in Climate Targets

Many 1.5°C and 2°C compatible pathways modelled by the IPCC include significant BECCS deployment to compensate for sectors where direct decarbonisation is economically or technically difficult. It thus functions not merely as an energy source but as a carbon accounting instrument within national and global climate strategies.

3. Deployment Gap and Scalability Concerns

Despite its theoretical promise, BECCS remains far from commercial-scale deployment. Only a handful of pilot and demonstration projects exist globally, and their combined carbon removal contribution is negligible relative to projected needs. Land-use competition, water demand, biodiversity impacts, and the high cost of carbon capture infrastructure are significant barriers.

4. Governance and Policy Implications

Integrating BECCS into national climate plans requires robust sustainability criteria for biomass sourcing, long-term liability frameworks for stored carbon, and cross-sectoral coordination between energy, agriculture, and environment ministries. Without these guardrails, large-scale deployment risks creating new environmental externalities while delivering uncertain climate benefits.

Conclusion

BECCS holds genuine potential as a negative emissions technology, but treating it as a near-term, scalable solution risks moral hazard — delaying immediate emissions cuts. Credible deployment demands parallel investment in governance frameworks and rigorous sustainability standards.

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