Posted by ICEF Secretariaton February 14, 2019

ICEF develops roadmaps to share visions and facilitate discussions for the development and dissemination of innovative low-carbon technologies.

The latest ICEF Roadmap “Direct Air Capture of Carbon Dioxide” was posted on the ICEF website on December 10, 2018. Mr. David Sandalow and Dr. Friedmann presented the roadmap at the side events of COP24 held in Katowice, Poland.

A draft of the “Direct Air Capture of Carbon Dioxide” roadmap had been presented and discussed at the side event during the ICEF 5th Annual Meeting (ICEF 2018). It had been then reviewed and revised, taking the discussions and public comments into account.

Presentation Summary

Direct Air Capture (DAC) is a carbon dioxide removal technology (CDR) that is expected to be one of the climate change mitigation measures that can directly reduce atmospheric CO₂. However, the challenges to its adoption include the facts that existing DAC technology entails high costs during the process of recovering, separating and concentrating thin CO₂ in the atmosphere, and that a large quantity of electricity and heat is required during operation, which causes a certain amount of CO₂ emissions. In order to put DAC into practical use, it is necessary to conduct research and development on high performance air contactor and CO₂ recovery materials, life cycle CO₂ assessment methods during manufacturing and operation, and other similar factors, as well as provide policy support to create a market for things such as DAC equipment.

1. ICEF Event at COP24

This event included two ICEF parts:

1. Mr. Sandalow and Dr. Friedmann presented the ICEF 2018 Roadmap “Direct Air Capture of Carbon Dioxide”
2. Mr. Sandalow moderated a Panel Discussion on the theme of “What innovation do we need to achieve Net-Zero CO₂ Emissions?”

Date: 16:45–18:15, December 10
Venue: Side Event Room “Warmia”, Level 0, Area G, COP24 in Katowice, Poland

Panelists

David Sandalow [Moderator],
Inaugural Fellow, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University; Co-Director, Energy and Environment Concentration, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Eija-Riitta Korhola, Delegate of the Consultative Commission on Industrial Change; Advisor in the EU Affairs
Julio Friedmann, Senior Research Scholar, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University
Tom Delay, Chief Executive, The Carbon Trust
Volker Krey, Energy Deputy Program Director, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
Youba Sokona,Vice Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Discussion Summary

Toward the realization of net-zero CO₂ emissions, the following key issues were identified for introducing and disseminating innovative technologies: (1) Low-carbon energy should be supplied stably. In this regard, energy storage is key as well as low-carbon energy sources such as renewable and nuclear; (2) It is necessary to use other negative emissions technologies such as afforestation, bioenergy with CCS (BECCS), and appropriate management of agricultural soil in parallel with DAC; (3) In order to create innovation, it is important to have a social system that can make innovative technologies more effective, as recognized in the example that the significant cost reduction in offshore wind power generation lowered winning bid prices; (4) There are also methods to be considered to approach net-zero emissions, such as the combination of CCS in oil, gas, iron, steel, and cement industries, where the reduction of CO₂ emissions is difficult compared to other sectors.

2. Side Event at Japan Pavilion of COP24

This event included two ICEF parts:

1. Mr. Sandalow and Dr. Friedmann presented the ICEF 2018 Roadmap “Direct Air Capture of Carbon Dioxide”
2. Mr. Sandalow moderated a Panel Discussion on the theme of “What innovation do we need to achieve Net-Zero CO₂ Emissions?”

Date: 11:30–12:45, December 11
Venue: Japan Pavilion, Space No. 15, level 0, Area E, COP24 in Katowice, Poland

Panelists

David Sandalow [Moderator],
Inaugural Fellow, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University; Co-Director, Energy and Environment Concentration, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Eija-Riitta Korhola, Delegate of the Consultative Commission on Industrial Change; Advisor in the EU Affairs
Julio Friedmann, Senior Research Scholar, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University
Sumiko Takeuchi, Senior Fellow and Board of Directors Member, International Environment and Economy Institute
Volker Krey, Energy Deputy Program Director, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

Discussion Summary

It was pointed out that it is necessary to push forward policies to promote corporate investment and new business model changes with a broad perspective (e.g. Mobility as a Service (MaaS), etc.) in order to introduce and disseminate innovative technologies toward the realization of net-zero CO₂ emissions.
DAC technologies will be more economical if it can be implemented in such ways as to save energy by using waste heat from other sectors or to use renewable