Carbon capture and storage at the end of a lost decade

• Published in: One earth (Cambridge, Mass.) Vol. 4; no. 11; pp. 1569 - 1584
• Main Authors: Martin-Roberts, Emma, Scott, Vivian, Flude, Stephanie, Johnson, Gareth, Haszeldine, R. Stuart, Gilfillan, Stuart
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 19.11.2021
• Subjects: capacity; carbon capture; carbon dioxide; carbon sequestration; energy; EOR; fossil fuels; issues and policy; net-zero; research and development; resources; storage; United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; fossil fuels; net-zero; carbon capture; resources; EOR; storage; capacity
• ISSN: 2590-3322; 2590-3322
• DOI: 10.1016/j.oneear.2021.10.002

Following the landmark 2015 United Nations Paris Agreement, a growing number of countries are committing to the transition to net-zero emissions. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has been consistently heralded to directly address emissions from the energy and industrial sectors and forms a significant component of plans to reach net-zero. However, despite the critical importance of the technology and substantial research and development to date, CCS deployment has been slow. This review examines deployment efforts over the last decade. We reveal that facility deployment must increase dramatically from current levels, and much work remains to maximize storage of CO2 in vast subsurface reserves. Using current rates of deployment, CO2 storage capacity by 2050 is projected to be around 700 million tons per year, just 10% of what is required. Meeting the net-zero targets via CCS ambitions seems unlikely unless worldwide coordinated efforts and rapid changes in policy take place. [Display omitted] Carbon capture and storage (CCS) provides a direct means to achieve the transition to net-zero. We show that the gap between what is expected from CCS and what has been delivered is still significant. Facility deployment, proven storage capacity, and storage rates must increase to play a part in CO2 mitigation. There must also be a greater global effort with government and multinational corporation engagement, and a rapid step-change in policy to avoid disillusionment toward the usefulness of CCS.