The rose, the bud, and the thorn of carbon capture
“Without carbon storage technologies, our energy and climate goals will become virtually impossible to reach”, said Fatih Birol, executive director at the International Energy Agency (IEA). Similar to Mr Birol, many scientists argue that technologies preventing carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere will be critical in addressing the climate crisis. But how do they work, why do we need them and what are the critics? In this article, you will discover the rose, the bud, and the thorn of carbon capture.
The rose - What is carbon capture, usage, and storage (CCUS)?
CCUS refers to a collection of technologies that can prevent carbon dioxide from major companies and power plants from entering the environment and contributing to global warming. The first step is to install solvent filters in factory chimneys, which capture carbon emissions before they escape. The gas can then be piped to various sites for usage or storage. The majority of carbon dioxide will be pumped far underground – where fossil fuel gas originates – and kept where it will not contribute to the climate crisis. However, some of it might be used to produce polymers, cultivate greenhouse plants, or even carbonate fizzy beverages.
Source: IEA
There are about 20 CCUS projects operating commercially, mainly in the US, Canada, Norway, and China. According to the IEA, 30 new projects have been agreed since 2017 and despite the Covid‑19 crisis, in 2020 governments and industry committed more than USD 4.5 billion to CCUS.
Still, in 2020 the CO2 captured by CCUS technologies is only 0.1% of total emissions produced.
This is far from enough to clean the CO2 emissions in the atmosphere and avoid dangerous warming.
The bud - Why do we need carbon capture?
According to the IEA, CCUS projects could reduce global carbon dioxide emissions by nearly a fifth while lowering the cost of addressing the climate crisis by 70%. Heavy industry – fertilizer producers, steel mills, and cement producers – would be difficult and expensive to convert to run on cleaner energy. CCUS allows to overcome this.
Also, CCUS developments are essential to maximize hydrogen's potential. Hydrogen is a non-polluting gas that is well candidate to substitute fossil fuels to power planes, trains, trucks, factories, and even homes. The Sustainable Development Scenario predicts a sevenfold increase in global hydrogen use to 520 Mt by 2070. Hydrogen production entails a high-intensity energy process that splits water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen atoms (electrolysis). If this process is powered by our beloved fossil fuels, still a large a large quantity of CO2 enters the atmosphere. So what? The solution is powering this process with renewable energy, so the hydrogen produced is emissions free.
Share of clean hydrogen according to Sustainable Development Scenario
Source: IEA
The thorn – Why is carbon capture criticized?
Some critics consider CCUS as “risk-management strategy” and attribute their allure to the fact that it allows politicians to postpone the need for rapid emissions reductions:
CCUS licenses the ongoing combustion of fossil fuels while seemingly fulfilling the Paris commitments.
Many critics refer to CCUS as “an unjust and high stakes gamble”: if it is unsuccessful, society will be locked into a high-temperature pathway. Indeed, CCUS is considered an essential element in the green growth theory, which states that continued economic expansion (e.g. GDP) is compatible with our planet’s ecology, as technological change will allow to absolutely decouple GDP growth from resource use and carbon emissions.
The green growth theory has already been embedded in national and international policies, including the well-known 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Two-thirds of the cumulative emissions reductions from CCUS through to 2070 in the Sustainable Development Scenario come from technologies that are currently at the prototype or demonstration stage. Given the time lags involved, innovation needs to be stepped-up now to ensure key applications are commercially available in the coming decade.
I believe that the first solution to combat climate change is changing our lifestyle and avoid carbon emissions. However, since there are unavoidable emissions it's important that we invest in new promising technologies like CCUS. The million-dollar question is: how fast these solutions can be unlocked globally and economically?
