Carbon Capture: Climate Hero or Costly Diversion?

Despite years of international climate agreements, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels
keep rising, with record highs in 2024. Energy efficiency, electrification, and renewable power
are essential for cutting emissions, but perhaps will not be enough to meet the world’s climate
goals. In order to limit global warming to at most 2°C, many scientists and policymakers clarify
that it is not enough to just reduce emissions, but also remove the carbon that is already
plaguing our atmosphere.

Among the most talked-about solutions is carbon capture and storage (CCS), technology that
promises to trap CO2 before it enters the atmosphere or even pull it out from the air. But will
carbon capture be a solution or just a way to delay actual action against climate change? This
article explains how the technology works, its pros and cons, and whether it can be a valuable
tool in the fight against climate change.

What is Carbon Capture?

Carbon capture refers to a group of technologies that aim to prevent carbon dioxide from
entering the atmosphere. It typically has three steps: capturing CO2 at the source, transporting it
(most commonly by pipeline), and lastly, storing it underground or finding a new use for it.
There are several methods of capturing carbon:

• Post-combustion capture captures CO2 from the flue gases through fossil fuel power
  plants.
• Direct air capture (DAC) pulls CO2 straight from the ambient air, albeit more
  energy-consumingly.
• Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) integrates the captured CO2 into fuels, plastics, or
  even concrete products.

The CO2, once captured, can be pumped into geologic structures such as depleted oil and gas
reservoirs or deep saline aquifers and simply left there for up to thousands of years.

Why Carbon Capture Is Gaining Attention

Carbon capture is gaining traction as it could help close the emissions gap and achieve climate
objectives. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) carbon
removal technologies are likely to be necessary to limit global warming to safe levels. CCS is
viewed as especially important for hard-to-decarbonize industries such as steelmaking, cement
production, and aviation.

Governments are also supporting the technology. The United States’ Inflation Reduction Act
raised tax credits for CCS projects, and Canada launched a CCUS Tax Credit in 2022.
Corporations like Microsoft, Airbus, and Occidental Petroleum are meanwhile investing in
carbon removal to offset their emissions or sell offsets to others.

The Pros and Promises

Supporters of carbon capture point to its huge potential. Large-scale CCS plants would prevent
hundreds of millions of tonnes of CO2 from being emitted into the air annually. In principle, this
would provide countries with time to transition to renewable energy and cleaner practices.
Another benefit is that CCS can be applied to retrofitting already existing infrastructure, such as
power plants, making it easier to transition than having to build anew. It may also inspire
innovation and generate new employment opportunities for people in green tech and
engineering.

There is also a controversial but technically valuable application: the use of CO2 for enhanced
oil recovery (EOR), where CO2 is pumped into oil wells to push out more oil. This adds financial
justification for capture, although others argue that it subverts the climate goal.

The Criticisms and Concerns

Although promising, carbon capture has very heavy drawbacks. Number one is cost. CCS
remains one of the most expensive means of reducing emissions. Operating carbon capture
facilities consumes a lot of energy, and in some cases, even fossil fuels themselves.
Many environmentalists are worried that CCS is turning out to be a license to delay in taking
climate action. Instead of reducing fossil fuel consumption, companies may remain with the
current practice under the guise of being green.

There are technical problems, too. Storage for the long term involves tight monitoring to prevent
CO2 leaks. And even decades afterwards, only dozens of commercial-scale CCS facilities have
been constructed worldwide, and the majority are within the fossil fuel sector.

So, Can It Help the Climate?

Carbon capture is not the silver bullet, but it could be part of the solution. For industries that are
difficult to replace, such as cement and steel, CCS can be a necessary piece of the puzzle. But
its impact will depend significantly on where and how it’s implemented.
If carbon capture helps to make the clean energy transition feasible, then it can be a positive
tool. But if it is applied to delay or “greenwash” the ongoing burning of fossil fuels, it will do more
damage than good. It will need policy, transparency, and smart investment to work.

Conclusion

Carbon capture is at a crossroads of innovation and controversy. CO2 trapping can be helpful to
reduce overall emissions, especially where other options are not available. However, it should
never be made out as a substitute for reducing the use of fossil fuels or the transition to
renewable sources of energy.

There is no silver bullet in the fight against climate change. Carbon capture can give us a bit of
time, provided that we use that time to construct the green future we truly require.

References

• Carbon capture utilisation and storage – energy system – IEA. (n.d.-a). https://www.iea.org/energy-system/carbon-capture-utilisation-and-storage
• CO2 Capture and utilisation – energy system – IEA. (n.d.-b). https://www.iea.org/energy-system/carbon-capture-utilisation-and-storage/co2-capture-and-utilisation
• Decarbonizing our toughest sectors-profitably. RMI. (2022, April 19). https://rmi.org/insight/decarbonizing-our-toughest-sectors-profitably/#:~:text=More%20than%20one%2Dthird%20of,abate%E2%80%94stubbornly%20resistant%20to%20decarbonization.
• Understanding carbon capture and storage. British Geological Survey. (2022, November 16). https://www.bgs.ac.uk/discovering-geology/climate-change/carbon-capture-and-storage/
• United Nations. (n.d.). Climate change – united nations sustainable development. UnitedNations. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/climate-change/#:~:text=The%20world%20must%20transform%20its,maybe%20even%201.5%C2%B0C.