Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes	Part A: How to tackle our carbon emissions crisis?
20 minutes	Part B: Benefits of carbon capture and storage
25 minutes	Part C: What are we being led to believe?
05 minutes	Reflection

Part A: How to tackle our carbon emissions crisis

Step 1.

As a class, discuss these statements (also available on the presentation slides).

Ask students whether they agree or disagree with the following statements. Try to rank these statements in order of most important or agreed with, to least. You might like to physically print and cut out the statements so that you can move them around.

"With the ongoing climate emergency and nations’ commitments to meet net-zero goals by 2050, there’s a heightened need to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions through whatever means possible."
"Time matters in the race to decarbonization."
"Just as we, as a society, have come to accept paying for the proper handling of our solid wastes, industry must accept paying for the proper handling of its carbon dioxide emissions."

These statements have been taken from the article Why carbon capture and storage is key to avoiding the worst effects of the climate emergency (https://theconversation.com/why-carbon-capture-and-storage-is-key-to-avoiding-the-worst-effects-of-the-climate-emergency-171454). Naoko Ellis is a Professor in Chemical Engineering.

Part B: Benefits of carbon capture and storage

Step 1.

Watch:

Bill Gates-Backed Carbon Capture Plant Does The Work Of 40 Million Trees (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHX9pmQ6m_s)

Step 2:

Reiterate that carbon capture and storage use technologies to take the carbon dioxide released from combustion stacks and fossil fuel generating plants (and other places), convert it into a solid form, and store it away, usually underground.

However, despite having been promised for decades, and having had billions of dollars in funding committed to it in Australia alone, CCS still only captures about 0.3% of the 34.6bn tonnes of annual global emissions released from burning fossil fuels.

Step 3:

Discuss the different viewpoints presented in this text.

Can students identify the people who were in favour of CCS? Why do you think they were supportive of it?
Can students identify the people who were against CCS? Was this surprising? What was their reasoning?

Step 4.

Discuss:

In the clip, Barbara Burger, Chevron Technology Ventures President, suggests that by 2040, 50% of the world's energy will still be generated by oil and gas.

How do students feel about this statement?
Do they believe this will be true?
Would students be happy/satisfied if it turned out to be true? If not, how would they feel?
What do students imagine will be the consequences of this statement being true, given the IPCC's report?
And the most important question: Why would a president at oil company Chevron perhaps be resistant to transferring quickly and completely to renewable energies? Or, in other words, why would Burger want 50% of the world's energy to still be generated by oil and gas in 2040? What are the benefits for her?

Step 5.

Discuss the viewpoint of Dan Kammen, a professor of energy from the University of California.

Carbon capture technologies companies can't claim to be part of the emissions solution while continuing to accept money from oil companies who are part of the problem. What was his reasoning? Ultimately they are not fixing the problem. Fossil fuel companies funding this research and helping this technology get to market is a cover-up; they are pretending to be concerned about the environment whilst just continuing to dig up and burn oil.
The fossil fuel companies are also using the captured carbon in many cases to extract more crude oil from the ground to ultimately burn and release more carbon into the atmosphere, which is counterintuitive. So there are a number of financial incentives (avoiding taxes, making fuel cheaper) that make this research worthwhile for these companies.

Step 6.

Return to the quote by Naoko Ellis. Have your feelings changed on which of the statements is most important? Do you agree that 'whatever means possible', 'time matters', or 'industry must accept paying for the proper handling of its carbon dioxide emissions' is the most pressing issue, or the best way to address our climate challenge?

You might like to split students into three groups and give them five minutes to discuss and then present an argument for each of these viewpoints. Or you might like to discuss it as a whole class. Is it important we do everything in our power to reduce carbon emissions? Or is this a misdirect, industries shirking their responsibilities?

Part C: What are we being led to believe?

Step 1.

Students then create a T-Chart. What are the benefits of Carbon Capture and Storage? What are the downsides?

Provisions for Learning Extension: Invite students to conduct some additional research into all of the considerations around funding carbon capture technologies and research.

Time’s up: why Australia has to quit stalling and wean itself off fossil fuels (https://theconversation.com/times-up-why-australia-has-to-quit-stalling-and-wean-itself-off-fossil-fuels-180666)

Why the oil industry’s pivot to carbon capture and storage – while it keeps on drilling – isn’t a climate change solution (https://theconversation.com/why-the-oil-industrys-pivot-to-carbon-capture-and-storage-while-it-keeps-on-drilling-isnt-a-climate-change-solution-171791)

Step 2.

Finally, students summarise their responses to this text. Were they convinced by Barbara Burger and the fossil fuel companies, or did they agree more with Professor Dan Kammen? Why? What are the benefits to each of these individuals for arguing their viewpoint?

You might like to discuss the persuasive techniques used, such as using facts, logic, and convincing language choices, as well as the positions of authority held by those who were interviewed in the text.

Reflection

Consider the following quote:

“Back in the 80s, we believed in the information deficit model of social change, and that if we could only get the information to policymakers they would do the right thing,” says atmospheric scientist Ken Caldeira, senior scientist for Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy. “And now we see that really it’s not about information deficit, it’s about power relations, and people wanting to keep economic and political power. And so just telling people some more climate science isn’t going to help anything.”

Can students relate this to what they have just learned?

Where to next?

While this lesson was more focused on oil companies funding carbon capture technologies and research, it briefly touched on whether the Australian government has an obligation - democratically, morally, or otherwise - to start investing in or legislating for solutions that reduce carbon emission. You might like to explore this discussion further with students, from a legal as well as a community-driven perspective.

There is an argument, presented briefly in the clip as well as other articles, that carbon capture technologies are not the way we should go, and they are taking us away from alternative solutions such as planting more carbon sink trees, which students can investigate in our lesson here.

If you want to know more about how carbon capture technologies work, check out our lesson on C02 Scrubbers.

If the IPCC report has really inspired your students, check out our unit on finding other solutions to our emissions challenges.

Teacher reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

IPCC - Who Doesn't Want Us to Switch to Renewables?

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