Natural sinks: Afforestation, Reforestation & Ocean ("coastal blue carbon")

After analysing BECCS deployment in England and the Drax case, Florian Auclair turns to a second context: Sweden, focusing on the KVV8 cogeneration plant in Stockholm. This comparative case study aims to enrich the understanding of social acceptability across different governance and energy systems. Unlike the UK’s centralised approach, Sweden is characterised by strong decentralisation and a long-standing integration of bioenergy into its energy mix. While the fieldwork differs from the British case, the Swedish analysis provides key insights into how local autonomy and national policy shape BECCS development.

In the third chapter of his research, Florian Auclair applies his dual-grid framework to the Drax Power Station in England. Once the UK’s largest coal plant, Drax is now at the heart of the world’s most ambitious and debated BECCS conversion.

This publication builds on our previous post on the “Poles of Acceptability” and now presents a summary of Chapter 2 of Florian Auclair’s thesis: how can these dynamics be investigated in real-world contexts?

🎓 The CarMa Chair is excited to announce that Romain Presty will be defending his PhD thesis, titled “Modeling Large-Scale Carbon Dioxide Removal Deployment: From Research to Market”, on March 2nd at IFP School.

Siwar Saadaoui continues her journey with us, starting her postdoctoral research under the CarMa Chair at IFPEN on February 10th, 2026. 🎉

This study uses a multi-country equilibrium model to explore how engineered carbon removals, such as BECCS and DACCS, can be integrated into the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS). It examines the impacts on allowance prices, technology deployment, and the geographic distribution of removals, highlighting the role of national cost advantages and the timing of technology adoption. The results show that including removals can reduce compliance costs, shape the technology mix, and provide more predictable outcomes under conditional mechanisms.

Social acceptability is increasingly recognized as a key factor for the success of the low-carbon transition. To explore how this parameter influences the deployment of BECCS, Florian Auclair examined the social dimensions of the technology in his thesis. In the first chapter, he demonstrates that acceptability goes beyond simple NIMBY dynamics, and that instead of a single notion, multiple acceptabilities emerge across different stages and scales of the BECCS deployment process.

On December 9th, 2025, Siwar Saadaoui defended her PhD thesis, which proposes a comprehensive and spatially explicit framework for assessing the sustainable deployment of dedicated energy crops. Her work integrates land availability, food security, agronomic performance, and economic cost modeling to clarify the realistic contribution of these crops to net-zero strategies.

We were pleased to host our annual seminar at IFP School, chaired by the members of our Scientific Council: Roger Aines, Sabine Fuss, and Volker Sick. Our students Romain Presty, Siwar Saadaoui, and Pauline ASCON — presented their research, sparking lively discussions with industrial representatives Farah Doumit, PhD, Pierre Millereau, Simon Lang, Léo BARRUOL, Richard Phan, and all attendees. Together, we explored key challenges in advancing low-carbon solutions. Several important topics emerged from these discussions, which will shape the research for the second phase of the chair: • Integrating BECCUS and other low-carbon technologies into industrial supply chains • Evaluating policy instruments such as the EU ETS for driving emission reductions • Developing optimal strategies for industrial emission reductions • Identifying viable business models for sustainable low-carbon pathways • Addressing social aspects of the low carbon transition • Ensuring industrial competitiveness while reducing emissions The seminar highlighted the value of collaboration between academia and industry and reinforced the urgency of working together to overcome the complex, interconnected challenges of the low-carbon transition.

On November 12th, 2025, Pauline Ascon joined the CarMa research team to begin her doctoral research at IFPEN and at the Center for Applied Mathematics of Mines Paris (CMA), under the supervision of Sandrine Selosse (CMA) and Carlos Andrade (IFPEN). Her thesis will focus on the social acceptability of low-carbon technologies and its implications for long-term prospective modelling.

As carbon dioxide removal (CDR) becomes an increasingly important component of net-zero strategies, understanding how scientific collaboration is structured globally is essential. This review applies bibliometric methods to map and analyze co-authorship networks, institutional communities, and thematic structures in CDR-related research from 2015 to 2024, using Web of Science data. The analysis of 9,280 publications from 151 countries shows a fragmented research landscape dominated by national and regional clusters. The EU27, the United States, and China account for most of the global output, yet their bilateral collaborations are often thematically specialized rather than broadly interdisciplinary. Only a small proportion of institutions act as connectors across clusters, limiting cross-regional knowledge exchange. These patterns indicate that, while international collaborations exist, structural fragmentation may constrain the development of shared methodologies and coordinated policy support for CDR. Strengthening bilateral and multilateral partnerships through co-funded initiatives, harmonized monitoring standards, and better alignment between scientific capacity and policy priorities could help bridge gaps.

Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) is deemed critical to achieve the climate targets set by the Paris Agreement, underscoring the need for robust and scalable CDR markets. This review explores how CDR has been, and could increasingly be, integrated into existing and emerging carbon markets. Despite growing policy attention, the deployment of CDR, especially permanent forms, remains marginal and challenging to scale within existing carbon pricing and crediting frameworks. Although certification schemes are becoming more tailored to the unique characteristics of different CDR approaches, cost disparities between permanent removal credits and cheaper emissions avoidance credits continue to hinder uptake. In response, several jurisdictions are exploring hybrid policy models that combine market-based mechanisms with public financial support. Additionally, increasing interlinkages between carbon market mechanisms are expected to facilitate more effective and widespread integration of CDR over time. The report provides an overview of the role of CDR across three types of carbon market mechanisms: voluntary, quasi-compliance, and compliance-based systems. It highlights the defining features and interconnections among these markets, and assesses how each framework contributes to the deployment of removals, in particular novel CDR. While voluntary markets serve as innovation hubs for CDR, their limited scalability and voluntary nature highlight the importance of compliance markets and targeted policy support for permanent CDR. Those quasi-compliance and compliance markets, including mechanisms under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and Emissions Trading Systems (ETS) like UK and EU ETS, are beginning to incorporate CDR more explicitly. This signals a shift toward broader carbon market integration and geographical coverage, requiring robust accounting and certification procedures for both emission reduction and removal projects.

As the climate crisis intensifies, global research on carbon removal is accelerating. This study reveals the explosive growth of CDR technologies, the key players driving innovation, and the emerging trends that will shape the future of climate action.

Assessing the role of negative emission technologies for the decarbonization of energy intensive industries using TIMES-EU model.

In July 2023, Romain Presty had the pleasure of attending the IEAGHG International CCS Summer School hosted by the International CCS Knowledge Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Siwar Saadaoui joined The CarMa research team on november 21, 2022 when she joined the AgroParisTech / Cired team under the supervision of Dr. Benoît Gabrielle and Dr. Thierry Brunelle (CIRAD/CIRED)

Dr. Solène Chiquier joined on March 23, 2023 the CarMa Research team for a 18-month post-doctoral research work based at Massassuchets Institute of Technology (MIT) in the Prof. Sergey Paltsev's research group.

On March 23, 2023, Solène Chiquier joined the CarMa research team to start her postdoctoral research work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Call for Papers - Topical Issue on "The role of Negative Emissions Technologies in 2050 decarbonation pathways" Your research interest deals with Negative Emissions Technologies, you are welcome to publish your work in the Sciences and Technologies for Energy Transition (STET) special Issue on NETs.

On January 20, 2023, Prof. Jean-Pierre Deflandre presented the CarMa Chair research activity program during a meeting from the "Alliance Nationale de Coordination de la Recherche pour L'Energie" (ANCRE)

PhD Thesis | Publications | Conference Papers | Workshop Presentations

GHGT16 leaves the floor to young people from different countries to discuss their future and the role of CCUS among other actions to reach carbon neutrality. Sibylle Duval--Dachary was in the panel, representing France and the CarMa chair. Nice to hear priorities of young people and see their commitment!

On October 18, 2022, the " Alliance Nationale pour la Coordination de la Recherche pour l'Energie (ANCRE)" published its position paper on carbon sinks that synthethized the work achived by groups 1 and 2 from this organization in which CarMa contributed to the worksheep devoted to biomass carbon capture and geological storage (BECCS).

Market Equilibrium Modeling for Carbon Dioxide Removal Markets

A common publication from CarMa and Imperial College London authored by Solène Chiquier, Emma Jagu, Olivier Massol and Niall Mac Dowell

CarMa Research Team | Post-Doctoral Program | Doctoral Program