Businesses Face Increased Risks Without Action on Net Zero Says New Coalition of Negative Emissions Paper

• The paper calls on businesses to play a central role in driving negative emissions and growing the market and highlights the risks of hesitating to act now
• It builds on previous reports by CNE and urges further development, standardisation, and regulation of the carbon removals market

The Coalition of Negative Emissions (CNE) has today released a new paper, titled ‘Being Positive about Negative Emissions: Incorporating carbon removals into Net Zero strategies’, which highlights the need for business to take action to drive negative emissions.

The paper shares an overview of emerging negative emissions industries and provides a call to action for companies to incorporate negative emissions into their net zero strategies. It also emphasises the need for further development of the carbon removal industry including enhanced standardisation and regulation.

The IPCC and other bodies have emphasised the growth of negative emissions will be increasingly important to achieve our climate ambitions. However studies including the CO₂RE Report, earlier this year are increasingly showing the gap between the amount of carbon dioxide removals (CDRs) countries have planned and what will be required if we are to stay within the Paris temperature goals.

The paper is centred on the vital role that businesses need to play if we are to achieve global climate targets by acting now to reduce emissions and decarbonise their operations, including investment in negative emissions.

Companies can do this by implementing “clear Net Zero strategies to be carbon neutral by 2035-40 at the latest”. The risks to businesses of hesitating to act are also starkly presented including risks related to: legislative and regulatory changes, climate disintegration, technical enhancement, customer preference, increased cost, increasing shareholder action and public pressure, and staff recruitment and motivation.

Paul Davies, CNE member and primary author of the report commented,

“We can only achieve Net Zero and stay below 1.5 degrees of warming if we develop an industry that can remove CO₂ from the atmosphere at scale.  The development of that industry should in large part be funded by wider companies as they implement Net Zero strategies.  As an emitter, every company should focus on reducing their emissions, but as a purchaser looking to offset residual emissions, they should prioritise purchases of robust negative emissions.”

Companies and the market as a whole have yet to properly understand the full risks and costs of climate disintegration. Businesses have an opportunity now to ramp up purchasing of long-term levels of negative emissions – to both help support the climate effort and support the growth of a robust negative emissions industry.

For companies that aren’t as familiar with the net zero debate, the complexity of the negative emissions sector can be a barrier to incorporating negative emissions into their corporate strategies.  Building on previous reports by the Coalition for Negative Emissions, this report therefore aims to create a path forward, considering the following:

• the emerging negative emissions industries – their breadth, the accounting, the evolution of the voluntary, government-assisted, and regulatory/compliance markets
• how all companies should be implementing a Net Zero strategy to decarbonise by 2030-40 in all but the highest emitting sectors
• the importance of buying robust, accredited carbon removals to offset residual emissions and the increasing availability of those negative emissions.
• how companies should build negative emissions into their Net Zero strategies, as negative emissions become available at scale during this decade

Angela Hepworth, Commercial Director for bioenergy and carbon capture (BECCS) at Drax said,

“As a leader in BECCS – a vital new negative emissions technology – we see the work the CNE is doing to build awareness and understanding of negative emissions technologies as invaluable as we look to grow and establish the market.”

“Having a healthy market for carbon removals will support investment in BECCS and the decarbonisation of new sectors while providing jobs in a new green economy.”

The Coalition of Negative Emissions (CNE) includes potential CO₂ capturers, purchasers, supply chain actors, and industry bodies aligned to give insight and contribute to the development of global carbon removal markets.

The full paper is available for download here.

For more information:

Nadine Moustafa
[email protected] 

Paul Davies
[email protected]

https://coalitionfornegativeemissions.org/

About the Coalition for Negative Emissions

The Coalition for Negative Emissions includes potential CO2 capturers, purchasers, supply chain actors, and industry bodies aligned to give insight and contribute to the development of standards, regulations, business models, and deals that are needed to urgently create a global market for negative emissions (“NE”), which will become a critical component of meeting global climate ambitions.

Our current capturer members include landowners and environmental stewards, large users, and generators of energy, technology start-ups, fuel providers, and large manufacturers and operators within aviation and agriculture, including two of the world’s most prominent DACS companies, the UK’s largest representative group for agricultural landowners, the UK’s largest energy from waste operator, the world’s largest sustainable biomass provider, and the sponsor of the world’s largest planned BECCS project.

Our potential purchasers include the first airline group worldwide to commit to Net Zero emissions and the world’s second-busiest airport.

The Coalition is actively widening its membership to include capturers, potential purchasers, and organisations that share the urgent objective of developing a global market for negative emissions, and who will benefit from the insight, knowledge, and voice that the Coalition can deliver.

To learn more, please visit www.coalitionfornegativeemissions.org