Postgraduate Research Student in Bioenergy and Environmental Economics

Caspar conducts interdisciplinary research in climate change mitigation, exploring the potential of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), a technology identified by the IPCC as crucial to meeting Paris Agreement targets.

Academic Qualifications

2010-2013: BA Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE). University of Oxford, UK.

Following one year working in the renewable energy sector and two years as a global shipping and trade analyst with Clarksons in London, I started a PhD at the University of Southampton, on the ADVENT project (Addressing Valuation of Energy and Nature Together), funded through a NERC studentship.

In 2018, two years into my graduate studies, I moved to California to continue my research at the University of California, Davis.

Research interests

I research scenarios for the deployment of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and how these impact natural resources and society. The technology requires using biomass to generate energy, and capturing carbon dioxide emissions for secure storage: the cycle of growing bioenergy crops and capturing the emissions they produce when combusted can generate ‘negative emissions’ which will likely be required in significant volumes to meet climate change targets.

I explore location-specific deployment scenarios of BECCS, using GIS software and environmental economic techniques to determine optimal locations, and to quantify the environmental and social trade-offs and co-benefits that result. The two regions I explore are the UK and California: I led and published the first assessment of a national BECCS scenario that accounted for spatial environmental and social impacts.

I also research the social legitimacy of BECCS, and collaborate with sociologists to explore the conditions for a social license to operate (SLO) this technology. I am also interested in the broader role of land-use and agriculture in climate mitigation and meeting climate targets.

Project