THE GREENHOUSE GAS REMOVAL PROGRAMME
Most climate policy pathways require gigaton-scale removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) within 30-80 years to keep global warming below 2⁰C. Even with full deployment of all known low-carbon measures, some greenhouse gas emissions arising from human activities (industry, transport and agriculture) will need to be offset in order to achieve net-zero emissions. The £8.6m Greenhouse Gas Removal (GGR) research programme, co-supported by three Research Councils and the UK government, sought to address the many uncertainties relating to the cost effectiveness, scalability, and wider environmental and societal consequences of balancing the climate equation through ‘negative emissions’. Eleven component projects (4 consortia, 7 topic-specific projects) were involved over the period 2017-2022, with a wide range of partners and collaborators.