Don’t oversell carbon capture

Governments and the fossil fuel industry are championing technology that captures carbon dioxide and stores it underground or repurposes it to make new materials. This is not the first time carbon capture, utilisation and storage, or CCUS, has attracted attention. More than a decade ago, it was talked up as a vital climate solution – CO2 is the main greenhouse gas, mainly from burning fossil fuels, so it makes sense to capture it. But as the industry has found out, CCUS isn’t as simple as it sounds. The sector faltered on a lack of investments, high costs and projects that failed to fully deliver.

But CCUS is back in vogue, especially ahead of the United Nations’ COP28 climate conference in the United Arab Emirates at the end of the year. The UAE, a major oil and gas producer, and other fossil fuel producers are talking up investments in CCUS. The context is that the industry wants to cut emissions from fossil fuel production while pushing ahead with trillions of dollars to expand oil and gas output. Government incentives backing CCUS and taxes on CO2 pollution are also boosting interest globally.