Title: Global economic consequences of deploying bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS)

Abstract

Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) is considered a potential source of net negative carbon emissions and, if deployed at sufficient scale, could potentially help reduce carbon dioxide emissions and concentrations. However, the viability and economic consequences of large-scale BECCS deployment are not fully understood. We use the GCAM integrated assessment model to explore the potential global and regional economic impacts of BECCS. BECCS always needs a net subsidy to be deployed; it never produces net tax revenue. We show that by mid-century, in a world committed to limiting climate change to 2°C, carbon tax revenues have peaked and are rapidly approaching the point where climate mitigation is a net burden on general tax revenues. Assuming that the required policy instruments are available to support BECCS deployment, we consider its effects on regional fossil fuels and biomass trade patterns. We find that in a world committed to limiting climate change to 2°C, the absence of CCS harms fossil-fuel exporting regions, while the presence of CCS and BECCS allows greater continued use and export of fossil fuels. We also explore the relationship between carbon prices, food crop prices and BECCS. We show that the carbon price and food-crop prices aremore » directly related. We also show that BECCS reduces the upward pressure on food crop prices exerted by carbon prices due to its effect on lowering carbon prices and lowering the total biomass demand in climate change mitigation scenarios. All of this notwithstanding, many challenges, both technical and institutional, remain to be addressed before BECCS could be deployed at scale.« less

Authors:

Muratori, Matteo ^[1]; Calvin, Katherine V.  ^[1];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Calvin, Katherine V."
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0003-2191-4189"
• Search orcid.org for ORCID "0000-0003-2191-4189"

Wise, Marshall A. ^[1]; Kyle, G Page. ^[1]; Edmonds, James A.  ^[1]

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Edmonds, James A."
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-0349-7564"
• Search orcid.org for ORCID "0000-0002-0349-7564"

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Joint Global Change Research Inst., College Park,MD (United States)

Publication Date:

2016-08-31

Research Org.:

Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE

OSTI Identifier:

1557600

Report Number(s):

PNNL-ACT-SA-10154
Journal ID: ISSN 1748-9326

Grant/Contract Number:  

AC05-76RL01830

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Environmental Research Letters

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 11; Journal Issue: 9; Journal ID: ISSN 1748-9326

Publisher:

IOP Publishing

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

09 BIOMASS FUELS; Bioenergy; Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS); BECCS; Energy Security; Integrated Assessment; GCAM