Twenty-two years ago, on this day, June 20th, 2002, the fantasies of BECCS beckon…,
20 June 2002 – IIASA report – Biomass Energy, Carbon Removal and Permanent Sequestration ― A ‘Real Option’ for Managing Climate Risk https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/id/eprint/6743/1/IR-02-042.pdf
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 373.5ppm. As of 2024 it is 426ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was that everyone was talking about carbon capture and storage. And its cousins. Direct Air Capture and BioEnergy Carbon Capture and Storage found their start this early date, at least conceptually. And, of course, it was our old friends at IIASA who posted this. They never met a geoengineering technological fix that they didn’t approve of. That’s who these people are, for better or for worse. Can’t blame them for being what they are.
What we learn is that technocrats gonna technocrat, to channel Ms Swift.
What happened next? There’ll be another almost 15 years before BECCS started being taken really seriously. And that was in the aftermath of the Paris Agreement where the warning bell was ringing ever louder. And rather than reach for fundamental social transformation, which they don’t know how to do, and would force them to admit that the last 35 years had been worse than useless and wasted, they double down on the techno, because they can do no other.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
Also on this day:
June 20, 1977- “Alternative Three” – An early Climate Hoax
June 20, 1979 – Jimmy Carter installed solar panels on the White House