Memorandum submitted by the National Physical Laboratory (LCT 37)

 

A Centre for Carbon Metrology

Summary

In response to the challenge of climate change and the opportunity for the UK of the "low-carbon economy", NPL proposes the establishment of a "Centre for Carbon Metrology", to continue to demonstrate the UK's leadership in this area, to contribute to making the UK the best place the world to locate or build a low carbon business and the obvious centre for the global carbon market. The Centre would seek to work with government, business and academia to develop the scientific and technical tools and standards necessary to ensure that the public sector, business and individuals can have confidence in the data on which decisions are based and the market relies, and that these are internationally recognised It would also create knowledge and skills in an area of critical importance for the UK. The Centre would focus its efforts in three areas:

1. Assessing and validating low-carbon technologies

2. Establishing a robust measurement and standards infrastructure for carbon pricing/trading

3. Providing confidence in environmental data

As part of the proposal there is the opportunity for a flagship project to demonstrate a UK lead in this area and showcase UK space technology. All of the work of the proposed centre will benefit from NPL's world-class multi-disciplinary capability, and demonstrated expertise in formulating and delivering programmes which give a very high economic impact and rate of return on investment.

 

 

 

Introduction

Responding to the threat of global climate change is clearly a national and international priority and requires a range of coordinated activities. These include establishing an explicit price for carbon, accelerating the development and deployment of low-carbon technologies, changing individual behaviour and adaptation to the unavoidable effects of climate change. In each case it is vital that activities are rooted in sound science and that government and business have confidence in the quantitative data on which their decisions are to be based. In addition, the drive for development and implementation of low carbon technology offers real opportunities for the UK economy. The stated ambition of BIS is that the UK be a world leader in manufacturing solutions for a low carbon economy, with at least a million jobs in the green economy by 2030.

In response to this NPL proposes the establishment of a "Centre for Carbon Metrology" to develop the scientific and technical tools necessary to ensure confidence in environmental data and carbon market prices, and the credibility and quality assurance of low carbon technologies. The Centre will also create knowledge and skills, which would be transferred to government and business for greater economic and social impact. The centre will focus its work in three areas:

Supporting, assessing and validating low-carbon technology

The UK government has clearly stated that it sees the shift to a "low-carbon economy" as a "huge economic opportunity" for the UK and has placed a low carbon industrial strategy at the heart of its manufacturing strategy launched in 2008. The 2009 budget confirmed the government's commitment in this area. The aim is for the UK to be the best place in the world to locate or build a low carbon business. This will need investment in technology, technology-pull through public procurement and the establishment of a suitable economic and technical infrastructure.

We propose a programme of work, built on our existing capability, to provide comprehensive support for low-carbon technology. This would harness and make available our multidisciplinary capability to enable UK industry to stay at the forefront of this emerging sector through:

· R&D to provide novel measurement science and technology critical for development of low-carbon technology

· providing solutions to measurement issues that could otherwise hamper development

· carrying out calibration of components or systems

· enabling independent assessment or demonstration of performance

Such activities are critical for ensuring that the best technology is demonstrated, accepted and adopted quickly. Measurement issues, specifications and standards can easily present barriers to market if there is not scientifically sound advice and support available at all stages of development from initial research through to manufacture. The capability described above would provide confidence for public and private sector procurement and enable innovators and ultimately vendors to overcome such barriers to market.

This programme would need to be integrated with the work of other public sector players in this field such as TSB, Carbon Trust, BSI, and BIS, in order to ensure focus on areas of importance for the UK economy. It would also benefit from NPL's extensive network of industrial contacts. Access to existing and developing capability could be managed effectively using tools for industrial engagement already in operation in a small scale in the "Measurement for Innovators" programme, which has demonstrated real and measureable scientific, technical and economic impact. Short-term ROI for projects in the existing programme have been independently assessed to deliver short-term returns of 1:10 - 1:30 and beyond.

 

Establishing a measurement infrastructure for carbon pricing/trading

Establishing a consistent "carbon price" was identified by the Stern review as key to any international effort to mitigate climate change and is viewed by the UK government as the single most important policy instrument for this purpose. Global activity of this nature has always required the development of internationally accepted standards and regulations based on robust, scientifically sound, consistent and internationally accepted frameworks for measurement. The world is, at present, a long way from having such a framework for GHG emissions.

As more sectors and countries seek to price carbon, the risks surrounding poorly quantified emission data grow. Poor data regarding emissions are distortionary and presents serious financial risks to industry, to investors, and to governments. The initial round of EU Emissions Trading Scheme Allocations demonstrated the pernicious effects of this sort of risk. The impact on business of the lack of an integrated and consistent framework has been recognised by the CBI in their recent call for a common business approach for GHG emissions reporting. Richard Lambert, director-general of the CBI, warned that a clear and more consistent carbon reporting standard for all businesses is essential if UK businesses are going to successfully reduce emissions. "Transparent measurement and reporting of corporate emissions data is likely to become an important factor in driving corporate change and creating corporate advantage, so it's vital we get it right."

The development of a systematic, high quality measurement system and the associated technical standards and regulatory framework would reduce the scope for market volatility and reduce investment risk. Ultimately, such an open, transparent and cost-effective carbon metrology system is essential to well-functioning carbon policy instruments and the operation of an international carbon market.

We therefore propose a programme, working with academia (e.g. the Smith School in Oxford), standards organisations (e.g. BSI), business and government, to develop the measurement science, technology, standards, best practice and protocols to provide a firm basis for carbon trading/pricing. The programme will identify and prioritise those sectors in which reduction of uncertainty in carbon emissions is most pressing, and will be coupled to on-going monitoring/auditing programmes and standards development. Work would cover:

· Technical services, support and advice for business to facilitate consistent, compliant and cost-effective reporting.

· R&D to provide underpinning science and measurement technology to ensure GHG measurement and reporting is fit for purpose and based on sound scientific and technical footing.

· Independent technical advice and policy support to government.

· International representation and coordination for technical standards on GHG measurement and reporting.

Establishing a UK lead in this area would not only benefit UK industry and cement the UK's reputation as a leader in the fight against climate change, but would also lend support to the UK's ambition to remain the centre of the global carbon market.

Providing confidence in environmental data;

A key driver shaping UK environmental science strategy (e.g. NERC's Next Generation Science for Planet Earth) is the requirement to generate scientific data of sufficient quality to provide the unequivocal evidence needed to allow policy makers to embark with confidence on potentially high cost infrastructural and socially challenging projects (e.g. for climate change adaptation) on timescales commensurate with perceived risk and impact.

One of the biggest challenges facing the research community when striving to provide this information stems from the difficulty of measuring key parameters in the natural environment with uncertainties often close to those achievable within the best equipped laboratories. This is compounded by the need to extend localised sampling to larger geographical scales and ultimately global information. This often requires sophisticated but validated models and analysis to ensure data sets collected by different instruments, methods, and research teams can be appropriately weighted and integrated to allow effectively seamless data sets to be established to test/support the theories developed by the science community.

At present the level of metrology expertise in the UK (and wider international community) applied to this issue is severely limited. Indeed it is in recognition of this that NERC have approached NPL to explore mechanisms for building such expertise based on our existing capability. We propose a programme of work focussed initially in three areas; Earth Observation; Global Climate and composition variables; Atmospheric Science and air quality. Work in these areas would cover:

· R&D in metrology-driven applications aimed at improving the knowledge base of measurement science and technology for environmental applications.

· Building an enduring capability in environmental metrology (including coordination of existing capability) to encompass - facilities for calibration/validation available to the research community; metrology expertise to provide advice and review; data and model assessment capability

· Knowledge transfer aimed at; attracting talent to the field; increasing skills in metrology and related areas; changing culture; disseminating knowledge.

As part of this strand there is the opportunity for a flagship project that would underpin satellite-based observations and measurements of the Earth in the optical domain. The project would also increase awareness of the importance of data assurance and enable the UK to take a significant global lead. TRUTHS (Traceable Radiometry Underpinning Terrestrial- and Helio- Studies) is a low-cost small satellite mission to measure incoming and Earth reflected solar radiation (integrated and spectrally resolved) with more than a factor ten improvement in uncertainty over any other sensor. This mission would facilitate for the first time the prospect of making truly "climate quality" measurements in the solar spectral domain. It would also improve the accuracy of all other satellite sensors by providing them with access to traceable calibrations in space in effect becoming an orbital standards laboratory. The need for such a mission is widely recognised by organisations such as the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) and NASA. A UK lead would not only provide significant scientific kudos but also a platform to showcase UK technological innovation, providing a stimulus to the British space industry.

Ensuring value for money

All three of the above areas of work for the proposed centre would benefit from NPL expertise in formulating and delivering programmes to world-class scientific and technical standards in a way designed to maximise the economic and social impact. NPL's existing science and knowledge transfer programmes, together with its unique relationships with business, government and academia, have been proven (through macro-economic studies, industry surveys, qualitative and quantitative case studies) to facilitate business innovation, increase productivity and improve international competitiveness. A recent DIUS study indicated that an increase in funding for the National Measurement System of £6M/annum could add as much as £400M to GDP. Government can have a high level of confidence that an investment in this area would show a real return in both short and long term.

The cost of the first three-year programme for the centre is estimated as £52M. This includes £13M for the TRUTHS project, (excluding a launch platform for the mission). NPL has the technical infrastructure and governance in place to enable the work to start quickly and with minimal start-up costs, ensuring this investment would be directed to deliver maximum impact.

 

July 2009