Towards a low carbon future

Source: Royal Society
"This document is the report of a two-day discussion meeting Towards a low carbon future that was held at the Royal Society on 17–18 November 2008. The meeting reviewed the current and potential technological options and considers how they can contribute to an integrated energy strategy for the future. The Royal Society has previously commented on how to meet the UK’s energy needs, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The key conclusion arising from the meeting was that there is no single best solution in moving towards a low carbon future: an integrated approach making best use of all available technologies is required."

Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Bill 2009

Source: Senate Standing Committee on Economics
"The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme bills have been introduced to the Senate and will be debated from 22 June 2009. The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) is the cap-and-trade emissions trading scheme designed as Australia's contribution to limiting the global emissions of greenhouse gases so as to contain global warming and climate change. The CPRS is the result of a long process of analysis and consultation by successive federal parliaments and governments. A Senate Committee started examining the issue over two decades ago. The Committee was unanimous in regarding the risk of climate change as deserving a serious response."

Plan B: an agenda for immediate climate action

source: Greenpeace
"This document presents a ‘Plan B’; an alternative to the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, outlining measures that could be enacted in the next two years and would set Australia up to meet the vital target of halving our greenhouse pollution over the coming decade. The environment groups behind Plan B are concerned that action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has been hamstrung by the political debate around the CPRS at the expense of simpler and effective measures that should be enacted as soon as possible."

Woodchipping our water

source: ACF
"This report, Woodchipping Our Water, assesses how the logging of mature forests in the Goulburn River catchment threatens the enormous water production and carbon
sequestration potential of the region. The Goulburn River is one of Australia’s most important and degraded river systems. It supplies water to many regional towns and cities, including Shepparton, Bendigo and Ballarat. The Goulburn also supports Victoria’s major irrigation industries and its flows are vital to the health of the Murray River system. The report finds that if logging in the study area stopped tomorrow, an additional water yield of 3,807 gigalitres would be delivered into the Goulburn River over the next 100 years. This is more than six times Melbourne’s annual average water use and around 165 times the amount of water the City of Bendigo uses in a single year. The economic value of this water would be $1.68 billion."

The natural fix? : the role of ecosystems in climate mitigation

source: UNEP
"Boosting investments in the conservation, rehabilitation and management of the Earth’s forests, peatlands, soils and other key ecosystems could deliver significant cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and avoid even more being released to the atmosphere", a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) says.

Biochar, climate change and soil: a review to guide future research

Source: CSIRO
"Biochar is the charred by-product of biomass pyrolysis, the heating of plant-derived material in the absence of oxygen in order to capture combustible gases. The objective of this report was to review and evaluate published studies with regard to what evidence and arguments currently exist that assess the application of biochar to soil to a) sequester carbon and b) produce secondary agronomic benefits. Current analyses suggest that there is global potential for annual sequestration of atmospheric CO2 at the billion-tonne scale (109 t yr-1) within 30 years. So far, however, the underlying published evidence arises mainly from small-scale studies that do not currently support generalisation to all locations and all types of biochar."

CO2 capture and storage: are we ready yet?

Source: Energy and Environmental Science, vol.2 (2009)
"Options for capture and storage of CO2 that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere by combustion of fossil fuels are considered. This paper assesses whether CO2 can be captured, whether sufficient potential capacity exists for storage in geologic formations, describes physical mechanisms that can prevent escape of the CO2 from the subsurface, delineates methods for monitoring the movement of CO2 in the subsurface and for detecting leaks, and describes field experience with CO2 injection. While much remains to be learned about the design of specific storage projects, the current state of knowledge of carbon capture and storage is sufficient to permit testing at the scale of large power plants."

Soil carbon management and carbon trading

Source: AFFA
"The purpose of this science for decision makers brief is to investigate the role of soil in capturing and storing (or sequestering) carbon emissions."

Soil carbon for carbon sequestration and trading: a review of issues for agriculture and forestry

Source: AFFA
"This review looks at factors that may influence organic soil carbon and issues facing its inclusion in a carbon trading scheme in the future. In order for organic soil carbon to be included in an enterprise-level carbon trading scheme, it must be measurable in an efficient and inexpensive way and at scales small enough to be applicable at the farm level. The review highlights areas where further information is needed."

Greenhouse gas sequestration by algae

Source: CSIRO
"This paper examines the greenhouse gas, costs and energy balance on a life-cycle basis for algae grown in salt-water ponds and used to produce biodiesel and electricity. Under the conditions described and the data assumed, it is shown that it is possible to produce substantial greenhouse gas and energy balance advantage over fossil diesel. However, when scaled up to large commercial production levels, the costs may exceed those for fossil diesel. The economic viability is highly dependent upon algae with high oil yields capable of high production year-round, which has yet to be demonstrated on a commercial scale."

Estimates of carbon mitigation potential from agricultural and forestry activities

Source: U.S. Congressional Research Service
"In the United States, the agriculture and forestry sectors account for less than 10% of current estimated total U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions annually. Combined, these sectors are estimated to emit nearly 600 million metric tons CO2 equivalent (MMT CO2-Eq.) each year, most of which is emitted from the agriculture sector. Current estimates of the combined amount of carbon sequestered by the agriculture and forestry sectors is reported at about 800 MMT CO2-Eq. per year, most of which is attributable to carbon stocks and uptake by trees in the forestry sector. Numerous studies estimate the additional GHG mitigation potential of farm and forestry activities. Among these, two commonly cited studies are those conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)."

Mapping the mineral resource base for mineral carbon dioxide sequestration in the conterminous United States

Source: U.S Geological Survey
"To slow global warming, scientists are exploring ways to pull carbon dioxide from the air and safely lock it away. Trees already do this naturally through photosynthesis; now, in a new report, geologists have mapped large rock formations in the United States that can also absorb CO2, which they say might be artificially harnessed to do the task at a vastly increased pace."