In October 2024, an international group of experts from different fields of science and technology were gathered in Copenhagen to discuss the outline of an upcoming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Methodology Report and Synthesis Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies and Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage. The IPCC scoping meetings precede each Assessment Report, Special Report, and Methodology Report and aimed at developing the draft outline of the report.
The scoping meeting, organized by the IPCC Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFI), is a crucial step preceding each Assessment Report, Special Report, and Methodology Report. The goal was to develop a draft outline for the report, aimed at refining the IPCC’s 2006 Guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories.
During the meeting, experts reviewed the inclusion of various CDR methods and technologies based on six criteria established during the Expert Meeting on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies and Carbon Dioxide Capture, Use and Storage held in Vienna in July 2024. These criteria focused on identifying gaps in existing guidelines, delineating anthropogenic sources and sinks, assessing the significance of activities, and ensuring the feasibility of methodologies for inventory compilers. Specific methods discussed included Direct Air Capture, CO2 Removal from Waterbodies, and Carbon Capture from process gases:
- the identification of gaps in the existing IPCC Guidelines for specific anthropogenic sinks or sources; or the identification of relevant existing sources and sinks where an elaboration of the Guidelines is considered desirable;
- the delineation of the anthropogenic sink or source to be estimated;
- the current and expected significance of the anthropogenic activity;
- the knowledge available to generalize an IPCC Tier 1 methodology applicable under any national circumstances:
- availability of necessary activity data to implement the methods (readily available national or international statistics); and
- the ability to specify tier 1 default values:
- sufficient availability of data13 to calculate a global (at least) value from a sample large enough to have it as a central value; and
- which should be expected to produce unbiased estimates, so far as can be judged.
- the feasibility of being able to specify higher tier methods for use by inventory compilers; and
- guidance for inventory compilers as to how they may be able to devise appropriate verification activities.
Based on these criteria, several CDR methods such as Direct Air Capture, Direct Removal of CO2 from Waterbodies, and Carbon Dioxide Capture from process gases were identified to be added as new chapters or volumes to the current IPCC Guidelines. The experts also provided some suggestions for revising the existing Table of Contents and Terms of Reference.
Several members of the UPTAKE project including the IPCC Vice-Chair of Working Group III (@oliver.geden ), UPTAKE advisory board member (Steve Smith), and the scientific coordinator (@soheil.shayegh) were present at the meeting and provided their expertise on several aspects of CDR technologies.
For more information on the IPCC 2006 Guidelines and their subsequent updates, visit the IPCC Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories at Publications - IPCC-TFI (iges.or.jp)