Edinburgh Uni leads EU funded carbon removal collaboration hub

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh are leading an EU-funded collaborative group focused on accelerating the development and deployment of carbon dioxide removal technologies.

Hosted by research collaboration platform Crowdhelix, the CO2 Removal Helix aims to bring together industry experts, academics, high-tech SMEs and investors focused on carbon removal.

The central initiative of the CO2 Removal Helix is the €5.2 million (£4.45mn) EU-funded C-Sink project, which aims to establish monitoring, reporting and verification pre-standards and policy strategies for a European carbon dioxide removal market.

The C-Sink Consortium, led by the University of Edinburgh, involves 24 organisations across 11 countries with expertise ranging from carbon removal and trading to climate law and stakeholder engagement.

Carbon trading is expected to be one of the big ticket items at the COP28 summit in Dubai, where climate negotiators could decide on rules for a new United Nations-overseen emissions market.

Earlier this year the UK government also highlighted new reforms to the country’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) which would see carbon-removing technologies added to the market.

Carbon removal regulation

Speaking earlier this week at the COP28, CO2 Removal Helix leader and University of Edinburgh Professor Ondřej Mašek said the carbon removal sector has been negatively influenced by a lack of regulation and high-quality standards.

“The current self-regulated market relies on an unsatisfactory patchwork of third-party verification of the removals achieved at individual sites,” Professor Mašek said.

CCUS business models: making money from collaring carbon — Drax Power Station near Selby, North Yorkshire.

“This has allowed low-quality carbon credits to enter the market, lowering credibility and prices to levels at which high-quality permanent removals cannot compete.

“The purpose of the C-SINK project is to deliver a complete package of worked-up proposals to support a new, or amended, European legal/regulatory framework that brings high-quality carbon removals into the market.”

Addressing climate crisis

Professor Mašek said creating trust in the sector through proper governance and standards will encourage the development of effective and safe carbon removal projects that can help addressing the climate crisis.

Increased collaboration will help the sector realise its potential, he said.

“Building carbon removal technologies and systems is only part of the challenge facing this emerging sector,” Professor Mašek said.

UK CCS delays OEUK — Grangemouth is Scotland’s largest emitter of carbon pollution but aims to be carbon neutral by 2045 by storing emissions under the North Sea.

“We also need to be able to scale the capacity and deploy those solutions at unprecedented scale if we are to extract the 5 – 16 gigatonnes of CO2 required to keep global warming to 1.5°C according to research published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

“That requires the rapid scaling of carbon removal research, alongside a simultaneous expansion of investment, manufacture and deployment of technology.”

Professor Mašek said overcoming the climate challenge required a wide range of stakeholders to collaborate across numerous fields and specialties.

Carbon removal investment

Crowdhelix chief executive officer Michael Browne to the establishment of Stripe-backed carbon removal fund Frontier as an example of an emerging and distinct sector attracting investors.

He said Frontier “changed how investors see carbon removal technology”.

“In an instant, Frontier became the leading backer of early-stage carbon removal technologies having secured nearly $1 billion in funding from a group that included Alphabet, Shopify, Meta and McKinsey,” Mr Browne said.

“Since then, the conversations around carbon removal have become increasingly tangible.

north sea emissions — A flare boom on an offshore oil rig in the North Sea.

“We’re no longer talking about the technology in an aspirational way, real discourse around regulation is now taking place.”

Mr Browne said the creation of the EU’s Carbon Removal Certification Framework expert group is an example of this “evolution”.

“At Crowdhelix, we want to create a focused open-innovation community that brings together stakeholders from across this rapidly growing sector,” Mr Browne said.

“If we can bring scientists, SMEs, regulators, policymakers and investors together at an early stage, I believe that we can help to accelerate the development and deployment of carbon removal technologies.”