In Short : The goal of CCS is to prevent CO2 emissions from being released into the atmosphere, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating climate change. It is considered a crucial technology for achieving deep decarbonization and meeting global climate targets.
In Detail : An unproven technology that cannot meet planetary CO2 mitigation needs
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is an expensive and unproven technology that distracts from global decarbonization efforts while allowing the oil and gas industry to conduct business as usual.
Even if realized at its full announced potential, CCS will only account for about 2.4% of the world’s carbon mitigation by 2030, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It’s worth noting that not one single CCS project has ever reached its target CO2 capture rate. An IEEFA study has reviewed the capacity and performance of 13 flagship projects and found that 10 of the 13 failed or underperformed against their designed capacities, mostly by large margins.
If its efficacy is questionable, its financial rationale is worse. Projects from Algeria to Texas demonstrate the technology’s troubled history of cost overruns and delays. Investors of a 40-megawatt coal-fired plant in Texas chewed through $1 billion in construction costs before one sold their half-interest—for $3.6 million.
For the hundreds of currently proposed CO2 disposal projects, there is scant information on the technical efficacy of their underground storage sites. An IEEFA study explored the unexpected challenges faced and interventions needed in two Norwegian projects touted as successes, offering cautionary tales for proposals that are at least 10 times larger.
According to both the IPCC and International Energy Agency, we already hold the key to most CO2 mitigation: Renewable energy, energy efficiency, and eliminating fugitive methane emissions can address more than 80% of the world’s decarbonization requirements by 2030. CCS, even if its technical deficiencies can be overcome, can only provide minimal contribution to decarbonization. CCS does not deserve the equal billing that fossil fuel preservationists are giving it next to proven solutions.