The government’s plan to reach net zero relies on burning the New Forest equivalent every five months, The Telegraph may reveal.
Ministers plan to use carbon removal technology to offset sectors such as aviation, agriculture and heavy industry and achieve their 2050 climate targets.
The proposals rely heavily on the capture of smoke from power plants that burn wood to produce electricity and its pipelines under the North Sea, using a system known as carbon capture and storage (Beccs) bioenergy.
Because these biomass plants are considered carbon neutral, largely because the trees that burn will be replanted, all emissions that are captured and stored are reported as negative.
To create enough emissions so that the removal can balance books and reach net zero, power plants will have to burn the equivalent of 120 million trees a year, according to an analysis of government modeling by The Telegraph.
This came just days after the food strategy promised to use huge parts of the province for growing crops, with scientists warning that there was not enough land to live up to all competitive promises.
“Castle built on sand”
Concerns have been expressed about how the technology will work on a large scale and whether burning wood for electricity is a real renewable energy source.
The Scientific Advisory Board of the European Academies (Easac), an association of national academies across Europe, including the Royal Society, has called on politicians to “end expectations” that they can use Beccs to reach net zero.
His analysis found that “there is a significant risk that he will fail to achieve net eradication” or that eradication will not happen quickly enough to meet climate goals.
Dr. Michael Norton, program director for environment at Easac, told The Telegraph that the Beccs belief was based on “misconceptions”, adding: “Our conclusion is that this is a small castle built on sand.” .
The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) said the plans were not final and was considering other waste products that could be used as biomass and other carbon capture technologies.
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