Representation by Climate Emergency Planning and Policy (Climate Emergency Planning and Policy )
- Date submitted
- 17 December 2021
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Dr Andrew Boswell, Climate Emergency Planning and Policy As an independent environmental consultant specialising in climate science, policy, and law, I object to the Net Zero Teeside project: A. The implementation of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology is not the best way to decarbonise the UK energy system. Full life-cycle emissions assessment still shows considerable carbon dioxide generation with CCS however efficient the capture process itself may be. These come from emissions both upstream and downstream of the combustion and capture processes. Energy is also required to power the CCS process which reduces the efficiency of gas power generation of electricity. B. A preferrable technology is maximising the optimum balance of solar, wind and energy storage technologies. Recent studies have shown that with recent and predicted cost reductions in all three technologies that solar, wind and energy storage can meet the cast amount of the energy needs, including taking into account weather and light cycles. There should be a detailed study by BEIS comparing CCS based energy production against wind, solar and energy storage before projects like Net Zero Teeside are granted consent. These systems have a much lower carbon footprint than the proposed Net Zero Teeside project. C. A cumulative, and short, medium and long-term, impact assessment of carbon emissions should be performed under the EIA Regs as part of the Environmental Statement. D. Carbon emissions should be tested locally, regionally and nationally against the UK obligations under the Paris agreement including the UK’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), the legally binding target under the Climate Change Act 2008 to meet net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, the UK Sixth Carbon Budget (6CB), the indicative pathways and carbon targets in the Net Zero Strategy for 2030 and 2035, the revised NPPF 152 planning requirement to “radical reductions of greenhouse gas emissions”, , and relevant local authority Environmental Policies.