Briefing Paper – Carbon Management

This briefing paper compares the development of Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) and Direct Air Capture (DAC) in the United States and China. The U.S. is leading in infrastructure and policy incentives, notably through the Inflation Reduction Act's 45Q tax credits. China is rapidly expanding its project portfolio but faces significant regulatory gaps and a lack of structured financial support. The document outlines a bilateral commitment under the Sunnylands Statement to develop five large-scale cooperative projects each by 2030, with a 2024 focus on hard-to-abate industries, market environments, infrastructure, and carbon removal.

• The United States is expanding its CCUS capacity through significant policy support, with over 120 projects currently in planning or construction. While existing operational facilities (15 sites capturing 22 Mtpa of CO2) primarily serve natural gas, ethanol, and fertilizer plants, new projects are targeting hard-to-abate sectors like steel, cement, and chemical production.
• U.S. CCUS growth is driven by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which allocated approximately $12 billion, and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The IRA's 45Q tax credits provide incentives of $50/tonne for dedicated geological storage, $85/tonne for point-source capture, and $180/tonne for direct air capture; nearly 40% of current pipeline projects were announced after the IRA's implementation.
• China has rapidly integrated CCUS into its carbon neutrality framework since 2021, with over 100 R&D pilot or demonstration projects as of November 2022, approximately 60 of which are operational. Notable developments include the SINOPEC Qilu Petrochemical-Shengli Oilfield project (the first million-ton project), a 1.5 Mtpa coal power project in Zhengning, and the world's largest oxyfuel CCUS project for cement in Qingzhou, Shandong.
• China faces significant systemic barriers to scaling CCUS, including a lack of comprehensive legal and regulatory frameworks for industrial-scale projects, undefined ownership rights for geological storage, and a dearth of structured financial incentives. While some projects receive case-by-case support, the People’s Bank of China’s Carbon Reduction Facility is set to lapse at the end of 2024.
• There is a vast disparity in CO2 transport infrastructure between the two nations. The U.S. operates a network exceeding 5,500 miles transporting over 66 million tonnes of CO2 annually. China's first commercial-scale pipeline (109 km) only began operation in 2023, and one study suggests it may need 17,589 km of pipelines for coal power CCUS alone.
• Under the Sunnylands Statement, the U.S. and China have committed to advancing at least five large-scale cooperative CCUS projects each by 2030. To support this, a Track II CCUS Working Group will focus in 2024 on four areas: carbon removal technologies, infrastructure needs, enabling market environments, and CCUS application in hard-to-abate industries.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Briefing Paper – Carbon Management. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2024-07/2024-carbon-management-briefing-EN.pdf

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Briefing Paper – Carbon Management. n.d. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2024-07/2024-carbon-management-briefing-EN.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Briefing Paper – Carbon Management |url=https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2024-07/2024-carbon-management-briefing-EN.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendbriefing, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Briefing Paper – Carbon Management}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2024-07/2024-carbon-management-briefing-EN.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }