Industrial carbon capture also does nothing to reduce the health damage caused by fossil fuels. In addition, CO 2 captured by industrial carbon capture projects is often used to drive more oil and gas back out-for something known as enhanced oil recovery, which uses fluids like carbon dioxide to push oil and gas out of rock formations-helping fossil fuel companies continue working. Moreover, powering them with renewable or nuclear energy sources would provide far less climate benefit than using that energy to directly displace fossil fuels. If we power carbon capture projects with CO 2-spewing fossil fuels, the projects lose much of their proposed climate benefit. Third, these industrial carbon removal techniques also consume excessive amounts of energy, which present enormous challenges to scalability. Industrial carbon removal costs at least $1,000 per tonne removed many other climate solutions either have costs lower than $10 per ton, and some have negative costs, saving money immediately. Other climate solutions, including improving energy efficiency, deploying renewable energy sources and addressing emissions in agriculture and industrial sectors, are far more cost-effective. Second, they are far too expensive, costing thousands of dollars for every ton of CO 2 removed. And even the planned Regional Direct Air Capture Hubs the Department of Energy is supporting will only be able to capture one million metric tonnes of CO 2 every year last year, the world emitted 40.5 billion. Even after decades of investment, research and development, today’s largest carbon capture projects only remove a few seconds’ worth of our yearly greenhouse gas emissions. First, industrial carbon capture projects are far too small to matter. But, as I’ve written previously, counting on these technologies today is a bad idea. Industrial carbon capture technologies come in many flavors, but the most prominent are carbon capture and storage (CCS), which removes carbon dioxide from highly concentrated point sources like power plants, and direct air capture (DAC), which attempts to remove CO 2 from open air, where concentrations are much lower.Īt first blush, this sounds great. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. It’s mostly a distraction from what we really need to do right now: phase out fossil fuels and deploy more effective climate solutions. Department of Energy are working hard to push this stuff.ĭon’t be fooled. The COP 28 host country, the United Arab Emirates, the world’s largest oil companies and even programs in the U.S. In the inevitable crescendo of hype and greenwashing that’s coming our way, we’ll doubtless hear a lot about industrial carbon capture technologies that attempt to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The political and media circus of the United Nation’s big climate change meeting COP28 is about to begin, this time in in Dubai.
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