• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing January 23, 2023
Extreme Warming Ahead Even as Worst-Case Scenarios Grow ‘Obsolete’ January 23, 2023
Notley Scorches Federal Just Transition Bill as Fossil CEO Calls for Oilsands Boom January 23, 2023
IRON OXIDE: New Battery Brings Long-Duration Storage to Grids, 750 Jobs to West Virginia January 23, 2023
BREAKING: GFANZ Banks, Investors Pour Hundreds of Billions into Fossil Fuels January 17, 2023
Next
Prev

Report Declares Carbon Capture and Storage a ‘Dangerous Distraction’

January 18, 2021
Reading time: 3 minutes

6
SHARES
 

Anyone banking on carbon capture and storage (CCS) as the silver bullet that will allow for undisturbed continuation of the fossil fuel business had better have (extremely) deep pockets, reports Grist, citing a new study that declares the technology gobsmackingly expensive, wildly inefficient, and a dangerous form of climate-action delay. 

The new research just published in Nature Communications concludes that deploying enough carbon capture plants to sufficiently “pluck” climate-destroying CO2 emissions out of the air “would cost more than a trillion dollars a year—more than the entire budget of the U.S. military—and gobble up 14% of the world’s annual electricity production by 2075.”

  • Concise headlines. Original content. Timely news and views from a select group of opinion leaders. Special extras.
  • Everything you need, nothing you don’t.
  • The Weekender: The climate news you need.
New!
Subscribe

In such a reality, Grist adds, “carbon removal would become one of the world’s major industries.” 

And yet, as unlikely as it seems, some fossil companies are placing bets on that reality.

“We are not afraid of the transition out of oil and gas, because we’re a part of that transition,” said Occidental Petroleum CEO Vicki Hollub, at the December announcement of her company’s intent to build a massive carbon capture plant in the Permian Basin. “I do believe that in 15 to 20 years, more of our income will be from carbon management than from oil and gas.”

On the surface, the shift in focus could seem like good news. But a study by the UK Tyndall Centre for Climate Research, just released by Friends of the Earth Scotland and Global Witness says very much otherwise. 

“Carbon capture and storage will not work as planned and is a dangerous distraction,” writes Climate News Network. “The technology still faces many barriers, would only start to deliver too late, would have to be deployed on a massive scale at a scarcely credible rate, and has a history of over-promising and under-delivering.”

So far, notes Climate News Net, there are 26 CCS plants in operation across the world, together “capturing about 0.1% of the annual global emissions from fossil fuels.”

And even those emissions are mostly used by the plants’ fossil-company owners to extract more, “by pumping the captured carbon into the ground to force more oil out.” Hardly a recipe for leaving it in the ground, Climate News Net notes.

Then there is the technology’s less-than-stellar performance—far from the promised capture rate of 95%, the study finds, “rates have been as low as 65% when they begin and have only gradually improved.”

But despite these failures and more, many governments are plowing ahead. The UK, for example, recently added US$1.4 billion to its development and infrastructure tab for the technology. That reliance on CCS will leave the country hard-pressed to meet its net-zero by 2050 target, write the report authors.

And the UK is by no means the only country or agency still enamoured with CCS. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the European Commission, the International Energy Agency, and the UK Committee on Climate Change are all backing the nascent technology. 

Such a stance marks a grievous error in judgement, concludes the report, particularly as “it is the cumulative emissions from each year between now and 2030 that will determine whether we are to achieve the Paris 1.5°C goal.” 

Considering the current restraints on carbon budgets, adds Climate News Net, “the report shows that we cannot expect carbon capture and storage to make a meaningful contribution to 2030 climate targets.”

Friends of the Earth Scotland and Global Witness conclude that efforts and financing should “be directed towards renewables, particularly solar, and onshore and offshore wind, because they have by contrast exceeded all targets in both cost and deployment and provide real hope of solving the carbon dioxide problem,” Climate News Network writes.

Batteries, other forms of storage, and “a much-needed energy efficiency drive” also stand ready to drive carbon reductions down “far more quickly and cheaply” than CCS can.



in CCS & Negative Emissions, Climate & Society, Climate News Network, Community Climate Finance, COP Conferences, Ending Emissions, Fossil Fuels, International, International Agencies & Studies, Jurisdictions

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

United Nations
Air & Marine

Salvage of $20B ‘Floating Time Bomb’ Delayed by Rising Cost of Oil Tankers

January 27, 2023
67
RL0919/wikimedia commons
Finance & Investment

Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing

January 23, 2023
2.2k
@tongbingxue/Twitter
Ending Emissions

Extreme Warming Ahead Even as Worst-Case Scenarios Grow ‘Obsolete’

January 23, 2023
296

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

EcoAnalytics

Albertans Want a Just Transition, Despite Premier’s Grumbling

January 23, 2023
255
United Nations

Salvage of $20B ‘Floating Time Bomb’ Delayed by Rising Cost of Oil Tankers

January 27, 2023
67
RL0919/wikimedia commons

Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing

January 23, 2023
2.2k
@tongbingxue/Twitter

Extreme Warming Ahead Even as Worst-Case Scenarios Grow ‘Obsolete’

January 23, 2023
296
Weirton, WV by Jon Dawson/flickr

IRON OXIDE: New Battery Brings Long-Duration Storage to Grids, 750 Jobs to West Virginia

January 23, 2023
517
Rachel Notley/Facebook

Notley Scorches Federal Just Transition Bill as Fossil CEO Calls for Oilsands Boom

January 23, 2023
273

Recent Posts

Sergio Boscaino/flickr

Dubai Mulls Quitting C40 Cities Over ‘Costly’ Climate Target

January 24, 2023
90
hangela/pixabay

New UK Coal Mine Faces Two Legal Challenges

January 24, 2023
46

Gas Stoves Enter U.S. Climate Culture War, Become ‘Bellwether’ for Industry

January 22, 2023
75
Jeff Hitchcock/flickr.

BREAKING: GFANZ Banks, Investors Pour Hundreds of Billions into Fossil Fuels

January 23, 2023
501

Exxon Had the Right Global Warming Numbers Through Decades of Denial: Study

January 17, 2023
227
willenhallwench / Pixabay

Ontario Greenwashes with ‘Misleading, Illegitimate’ Emission Credits

January 16, 2023
315
Next Post
RAEng_Publications/Pixabay

Science Must Determine Climate Targets, Business Execs Insist

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}