Carbon Capture, Storage and Removal

1. Introduction 2. The challenge 3. The business case 4. The solution 5. News & Insights 6. Related Resources

Reading time: 2 min

Introduction

Most climate scenarios agree limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C without using Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is unlikely.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that the required carbon capture from fossil fuels for a net zero emissions energy system will be around 3.5Gtpa in 2050. It is also becoming clear that multiple gigatonnes of carbon removal will be needed by 2050 to: contribute to short-term climate mitigation, neutralize hard-to-abate emissions at net zero and help achieve net-negative emissions thereafter.

The challenge

The technology to capture, store and/or remove carbon is available, but there are only around 30 operating facilities around the globe with a CO2 sequestration capacity of 43 Mtpa.

The deployment of CCS technologies must be accelerated to achieve a scale over 100 times greater than the present capacity by 2050. The main barriers include:

Techno-economic challenges for CCS technology
A cost on carbon or other financial incentives
Economics and risks of shared infrastructure
Policy frameworks
Perception issues of the role of CCS in achieving net zero emissions

The business case

According to the IEA, the overall cost to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 would be USD $15 trillion higher without CCS.

This is due to significantly higher investments needed in renewable electricity, energy storage and other decarbonization technologies for the hard-to-abate sectors. Developing hubs in industrial clusters will be key activities for a just transition due to job creation and preservation of existing industries. It will also pave the way for cost-effective deployment of technological removals by sharing infrastructure.

The solution

Our members represent the full CCS value chain and collaborate to create practical tools for companies to address the barriers to scaling CCS.

The work covers the following themes:

Storage – investigating and advancing enabling mechanisms for geological storage to achieve a ‘geological’ net-zero emissions.
Capture – identifying use cases and key levers for carbon capture deployment to help increase project investment decisions for emitters and removals project developers.
Removals – guiding companies on ambitious carbon removal purchasing strategies to increase demand for a diverse range of quality methods across both nature and technology.