LLNL Report Lays out Technology Pathways for California to Become Carbon-Neutral and Then -Negative by 2045; 3 Pillars of Negative Emissions

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February 3, 2020

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(Green Car Congress) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists have identified a suite of technologies to help California to become carbon-neutral—and ultimately carbon-negative —by 2045. To achieve the goal of carbon-neutrality, California will likely have to remove on the order of 125 million tons per year of CO₂ from the atmosphere.

In the report, “Getting to Neutral: Options for Negative Carbon Emissions in California,” funded by the Livermore Lab Foundation (LLF) with grant support from the ClimateWorks Foundation, LLNL focused on three specific pillars of negative emissions: natural and working lands; carbon capture from biomass conversion to fuels; and direct air capture.

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Of the three, the authors concluded that converting the state’s waste biomass (about 56 million bone dry tons per year) into fuels with simultaneous capture of the process CO₂ emissions holds the greatest potential for negative emissions in the State—some 84 million metric tons per year. More specifically, gasifying biomass to make hydrogen fuel and CO₂ has the largest promise for CO₂ removal at the lowest cost and aligns with the state’s goals on renewable hydrogen.

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The report assesses the advanced carbon reduction technologies now available, their costs, as well as the tradeoffs necessary to reach the state’s decarbonization goal. The report codifies a number of significant conclusions by researchers at eight institutions. It serves as a resource for policymakers, government, academia and industry.

California can achieve this level of negative emissions at modest cost, using resources and jobs within the State, and with technology that is already demonstrated or mature. This is our conclusion after a comprehensive, first-of-its-kind, quantitative analysis of natural carbon removal strategies, negative emissions technologies, and biomass and geologic resources in the State, using methods that are transparently detailed in this report. We also find that realizing this goal will require concerted efforts to implement underground carbon storage at scale, build new CO₂ pipelines, expand collection and processing of waste biomass, and accelerate learning on important technologies, like direct air capture.

—“Getting to Neutral” READ MORE

New Lab report outlines ways California could reach goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2045 (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)

Getting to Neutral: Options for Negative Carbon Emissions in California (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)

Connections: Can Compost Draw Down Carbon? (BioCycle Magazine)

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