As the Climate Crisis worsens and emissions continue to rise, companies are looking towards carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies as a solution. However, progress in this area is slow and investment is limited. At the COP28 summit, hydrocarbon companies vowed to reduce emissions, but only committed to reducing “non-abatable” emissions, giving themselves a free pass to continue burning hydrocarbons.
Studies show that there is currently insufficient capacity for CCS to make a significant impact on reducing CO2 emissions. Even if the technology were to improve, there is not enough underground storage space to hold all the captured CO2. The current pace of CCS deployment is unlikely to meet the targets set by the Paris Agreement, and government policies aiming to increase capacity may fall short due to past failure rates.
While companies are investing in carbon removal technologies, such as DAC and BECCS, there is concern that these methods are receiving disproportionate support due to political and industrial bias. More promising techniques, such as biochar, are being overlooked. The effectiveness of current CCS methods remains modest, with only a fraction of the necessary CO2 being removed.
The urgency of the climate crisis is becoming increasingly apparent, with record-breaking temperatures and rising emissions. Without a significant shift in approach and greater investment in a wider range of carbon capture technologies, it is unlikely that the world will be able to meet the necessary targets to curb global warming and avoid catastrophic consequences.
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