Carbon capture MOOC attracts students worldwide

Academics at the School of Engineering and the School of Geosciences have re-launched the world’s first free open online course exploring how carbon capture and storage technology (CCS) can be used to tackle climate change.

The course, which has been developed by leading academics including the School’s Mathieu Lucquiaud alongside Carbon Capture and Storage Group researchers Charlotte Mitchell, Thomas Spitz, and Mennat Labib, is a massive open online course (MOOC), which means that it is completely free and accessible to anyone worldwide.

A world-first in open online courses

When the course launched back in March of this year, it was the world’s first open online course to address carbon capture technology; allowing 3,000 learners in 140 countries with an interest in climate change to understand the exciting potential of CCS, as well as the science and technology behind it.

During the course, learners explore how CCS can protect the atmosphere from an excess of CO2 and how it can remove excess CO2 already accumulated in the atmosphere. They also understand the role of CCS alongside other low-carbon technologies and how it might be practically implemented against a background of shifting global political and economic conditions.

Game-changing technology

The next course session, which began on Monday 10 December, coincides with this year’s UN Climate Change Conference in Poland to engage with civil society, environmentalist and policymakers to raise awareness about the mismatch between investment in CCS and its unequivocal role in climate change mitigation. 

The course begins in the wake of UK Energy Minister Claire Perry’s recent visit to the Schools of Engineering and Geosciences which placed CCS technology under the spotlight as a “game-changing technology” with potential to “tackle climate change while kick-starting an entirely new industry”.

Find out more in the course introduction video.

Related links