UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has invested £30 million in a new trial that will see researchers across the UK investigate five innovative methods of large-scale greenhouse gas removal from the atmosphere over four and half years starting today. The research hub located at Oxford University will provide expert access to cutting edge technology as well as more than one hundred scientific experts working on this project to make sure everything goes smoothly with no issues whatsoever. It makes total sense though—after all, what good are these innovations if they have an adverse environmental impact?
This is great news not only for UKRI but the entire world. After all, it’s our Earth we’re talking about here. In the third year of this research, it is also planned that there will be an additional £1.5million to be added to the kitty.
The demonstrator projects will investigate the potential for peatlands to remove greenhouse gases at sites near Doncaster and in Wales. Different techniques of managing these areas, including enhanced rock weathering and planting trees on a large scale as well as projecting where trees are most effective (for example, nearer or further from populated towns), will be examined across the UK.
At the start of this month, the British Ecological Society released a report that claimed peatlands had the potential to be used for a substantial amount of carbon storage benefits; they release an estimate of 23million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, which is almost half of the amount released by the agricultural sector in the United Kingdom.
Researchers will also investigate the use of biochar, a charcoal-like substance that can be used as carbon sequestration and on perennial plants such as grasses.
Researchers are investigating how to store more CO2 in our environment by using methods like creating Charcoal from organic material or utilizing Perennial Plants for energy production. This will take place in more than one location across the country, including Lincolnshire and Lancashire.
According to the UKRI, all five methods have the potential to remove GHGs from the atmosphere and their effectiveness needs more research; The results will be used by government agencies in order to better understand which technologies are most effective for reducing carbon emissions while also tackling climate change.