Carbon Capture Doesn’t Work

In this exhaustive research, the folks with Environmental Defence have proven that the unicorn idea of ‘carbon capture’ just doesn’t work.

Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) refers to technologies that are designed to collect or “capture” carbon dioxide generated by high–emitting activities (such as oil refineries, cement plants, fossil fuel power plants) and then transport the captured carbon to sites where they are used for industrial processes or stored underground.

CCUS relies on the flawed premise that we can continue burning fuels indefinitely by capturing some of the carbon emissions from polluting facilities before they escape into the atmosphere. Putting carbon capture technology on greenhouse–gas emitting facilities is used to justify new polluting projects and enables existing facilities to continue operating, effectively providing emitters with a license to pollute and locking in
greenhouse gas emissions for decades to come. Put simply, rather than replacing fossil fuels, carbon capture prolongs our dependence on them at a time when preventing catastrophic climate change requires winding down fossil fuel use. It also hasn’t worked. Despite decades of research and investment, in Canada and globally, CCUS is neither economically sound nor proven at scale, with a terrible track record and limited potential to deliver significant, cost–effective emissions reductions.

Climate capture strategies would fall massively short of any carbon reduction obligations. It’s estimated that current CCUS accounts for 0.001% of annual carbon production globally.

The billions wasted on the idea would have been better spent on research and development of renewable energy.

Moving forward, let’s do that.

Just $8 billion per year until 2050 would help us create an energy infrastructure that would get us that much closer to carbon reduction targets.