Going carbon negative - Can bioenergy with carbon capture and storage be part of the solution? Developing a framework to assess the impacts of UK and

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Several Energy and Climate Change future scenarios identify 'Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage'- (BECCS) as a significant enabler of the move towards a low carbon economy. This reflects the ability of these two technologies in combination, to effectively remove large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere whilst at the same time, providing heat, power and liquid biofuels, leading to the concept of 'carbon negative energy' (IPCC, 2013). National UK assessments such as CCC (CCC, 2011) and the Energy White paper (DECC, 2011) and indeed, within the global IPCC assessment (IPCC, 2013), identify BECCS as having a central role in decarbonisation strategies. Although this is an attractive option, there remain significant technical barriers to deployment and to date, no consideration has been made of the impacts of wide-scale deployment on natural capital and ecosystem services. At the same time, the UK Natural Capital Committee (NEA, 2014) is recommending that Government endorses a long-term plan to maintain and improve natural capital and that natural capital should be incorporated into generational planning of UK infrastructure. Carbon stocks (soils), wildlife (biodiversity) and water resources have been identified as natural capital that is significantly threatened at present and that without careful consideration in future, may lead to the loss of considerable benefits that flow from this natural capital, including food, energy and climate regulation. It has also been recognised that these assets have a significant spatial dimension in the UK (Bateman et al., 2013) and elsewhere and this spatiality must be considered in any future policy developments, including consumption-based metrics that reflect the full impact of our global footprint, here in the delivery of a low carbon economy for the UK. The aim of this PhD is to bring together thinking from the energy and natural capital evaluation approaches, using the considerable number of tools emerging from NEA and elsewhere (including ADVENT and UKERC Pathways Theme) and to develop a framework to understand the likely implications of BECCS for the UK and more widely.