IPCC Working Group III report: Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS)

This briefing summarizes the IPCC Working Group III report on Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), evaluating its potential and feasibility as a carbon dioxide removal (CDR) method for climate mitigation. While BECCS is heavily utilized in climate models to limit warming, the report highlights significant uncertainties regarding its environmental and socio-economic impacts, particularly concerning land use, food security, and biodiversity.

• BECCS is a widely used carbon dioxide removal (CDR) method in climate models for limiting temperature rise to 2°C or lower, but its large-scale deployment poses severe risks. To limit warming to 1.5°C with limited or no overshoot, pathways may require 199 million hectares (ranging from 56 to 482 million) of cropland by 2100. This scale of land use—where an area twice the size of Egypt could be needed—threatens ecosystems, biodiversity, and food security.
• The technical potential for BECCS by 2050 is estimated between 0.5 and 11.3 billion tonnes of CO2 per year (GtCO2 a year), though this drops to 0.2-9.9 GtCO2 a year when considering cost effectiveness (under USD100 per tonne of CO2-eq). Achieving these levels would require nearly a 150-fold increase in current CCS capacity, which currently captures only 40 million tonnes of CO2 annually.
• The actual mitigation benefit of BECCS is uncertain and depends on feedstock choice and management. Using feedstocks that do not require land, such as harvest residues or municipal organic waste, can reduce negative land-use impacts. Conversely, poorly planned large-scale implementation can adversely affect water security, local livelihoods, biodiversity, and the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
• Delaying near-term emissions reductions increases the reliance on CDR methods like BECCS to correct temperature overshoot in the latter half of the century. This delay would necessitate substantial land use change by 2050, whereas earlier mitigation would reduce the overall pressure on land and its associated impacts.

APA

Team, Z. (2022). IPCC Working Group III report: Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS). Zero Carbon Analytics. https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/nature/ipcc-working-group-iii-report-bioenergy-with-carbon-capture-and-storage-beccs/

Chicago

Team, ZCA. IPCC Working Group III report: Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS). Zero Carbon Analytics, 2022. https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/nature/ipcc-working-group-iii-report-bioenergy-with-carbon-capture-and-storage-beccs/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Team |first1=ZCA |title=IPCC Working Group III report: Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) |publisher=Zero Carbon Analytics |date=7 April 2022 |url=https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/nature/ipcc-working-group-iii-report-bioenergy-with-carbon-capture-and-storage-beccs/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{team2022ipcc, author = {Team, ZCA}, title = {{IPCC Working Group III report: Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS)}}, institution = {Zero Carbon Analytics}, year = {2022}, month = apr, url = {https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/nature/ipcc-working-group-iii-report-bioenergy-with-carbon-capture-and-storage-beccs/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }