CO2 Emissions Bury the UN Climate Summit: Why Carbon Capture and Storage is a Critical Part of the Solution to Climate Change

GENEVA, Switzerland, Sept. 22, 2014 /CNW/ - A coal pile buries the UN Headquarters and New York is lost under a mountain of CO₂. These scenes, illustrating actual quantities, bring home the sheer scale of global carbon emissions and the urgency for action.  

To view the Multimedia News Release, please click:

http://www.multivu.com/players/English/72762541-wbcsd-carbon-capture-and-storage

This four-minute film launched today allows us to visualize the critical part carbon capture and storage (CCS) can play in limiting global temperature rise to 2°C above pre-industrial levels. The animation is a call to help catalyze action to reduce carbon emissions.

Led by the WBCSD, Action2020 is a science-based platform for business action on sustainable development to 2020 and beyond, covering a range of solutions addressing the key mitigation levers for climate change. This animation, supported by companies working on the CCS business solution, focuses on this technology, one of the essential solutions at risk of being overlooked.

Today we get over 80% of our energy from fossil fuels. To stay below 2°C warming, we cannot emit more than 1 trillion tonnes of carbon. World population is expected to rise to 9 billion by 2050, doubling energy demand. The most ambitious plans to replace fossil fuels see only about half of our energy needs being met by zero-carbon renewables by 2050. With the rise in energy demand, the concentration of CO₂ will exceed the agreed limit of dangerous climate change.

To stay within emissions targets, we must have CCS in our portfolio. CCS keeps CO₂ out of the atmosphere by returning emissions below several layers of rock into the geosphere. A price on CO₂ coupled with ambitious reduction targets would help CCS to be deployed extensively. We need a robust technology, policy, legal and infrastructure pathway to be implemented now.

Peter Bakker, President and CEO of the WBCSD said:

"WBCSD's Action2020 platform presents a range of solutions that together will generate bold action on climate change. As part of this, we asked Carbon Visuals to create a piece of compelling narrative which took us from global fossil fuel use to focus on carbon capture and storage, an essential, but often overlooked contributor to staying below 2°C global warming. The resulting animation is both informative and starkly engaging. Among all of the documents, reports and images being released around the UN summit, we hope that this film will stand out and benefit all participants, as well as anyone who watches it around the world."

The WBCSD, a CEO-led organization of some 200 forward-thinking global companies, is committed to galvanizing the global business community to create a sustainable future for business, society and the environment. http://www.wbcsd.org.

Video: http://www.multivu.com/players/English/72762541-wbcsd-carbon-capture-and-storage

SOURCE: World Business Council for Sustainable Development

Irge Olga Aujouannet, WBCSD, Global Communications, Email: [email protected], Tel: [phone]