Is Bioenergy with CCS Critical to the Paris Agreement?

The Paris Agreement establishes the objective of “[h]olding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels . . .” However, in the negotiations leading up to Paris, and in its aftermath, it has become increasingly obvious that meeting even the less stringent of these two goals may prove extremely daunting. As a result, new technologies and alternative methods of generation, such as bioenergy, are receiving increased attention. Policymakers and climate scientists believe the only way to avoid passing critical climatic… [more]