Climate action on threshold of success as we prepare for COP26

Professor Stuart Haszeldine, SCCS Director, University of Edinburgh

In 2020, the SCCS partnership reached an important milestone: 15 years of research, knowledge exchange and advocacy towards our shared goal of delivering one of the world’s most promising climate protection technologies, carbon capture and storage (CCS).

This provokes mixed feelings. On the one hand, it shows the continued need for our involvement; on the other, it highlights just how long it is taking to reach our destination. Our commitment and enthusiasm remain undimmed. In this year of the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, we expect global leaders and business to finally deliver on effective climate mitigation measures, including CCS.

The signs are promising for the UK. In early January, Westminster announced six industrial areas to benefit from its £8 million fund aimed at creating the world’s first net-zero emissions industrial zone by 2040. The winners include Scotland’s Net Zero Roadmap (SNZR) project, of which we are a part alongside nine industry partners. Together, we will draw up detailed plans for Scottish industry that will enable large-scale decarbonisation and help Scotland meet a stated target of net zero by 2045.

The SCCS partnership, and the expertise we offer, continues to grow. Last year, we welcomed colleagues from the University of Glasgow, with the University of Dundee expected to join us in due course.

The SCCS Team and scientists from our partner institutes are involved in a number of ambitious and far-reaching European projects. Brexit may have been “done” but our colleagues continue to fly the flag of international cooperation.

Our partnership was founded in 2005 by Professor Adrian Todd of Heriot-Watt University, who sought to bring together like minds from the University of Edinburgh, the British Geological Survey (BGS) and Heriot-Watt. We owe Adrian a great deal for his extraordinary foresight and humanitarian spirit. We hope that he, in turn, is proud of what we have achieved.  

An anniversary series of blogs by the SCCS Team provides personal insights into our work and we aim to share reflections from colleagues on the SCCS Directorate over the coming weeks.

As Covid-19 has shown, when disaster strikes the world turns to the research community for solutions; and so it is with the climate emergency. This year, we hope those carrying the beacons of leadership will commit to even greater and significant climate actions that will change the fortunes of our planet.

Thank you for your continued interest in all that we do.

Photo: Prof Haszeldine with protective masks sent to the SCCS partnership by Dr Jia Li, Associate Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, in March 2020 during the first Covid-19 lockdown, underlining the strong bonds of friendship and shared values within the international CCS research community.