Climate change reduction needs forest regeneration

In the United Kingdom, a team of researchers concluded that trying to tackle climate change by replacing forests with crops for bioenergy power stations that capture carbon dioxide could instead increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

A study led by the University of Exeter suggests that converting large land areas to growing crops as biomass for Biomass Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage power stations would release so much carbon dioxide that protecting and regenerating forests is a better option in many places.

BECCS are designed to produce energy and store the resulting carbon dioxide in bedrock deep underground. “The vast majority of current IPCC scenarios for how we can limit global warming to less than 2°C include BECCS,” said lead author Dr Anna Harper, from the University of Exeter. “But the land required to grow biomass in these scenarios would be twice the size of India”.