Carbon capture and storage: where are we at?

The document describes CCS as an integrated infrastructure for capturing, transporting, and storing CO2. It notes a history of failure, with only 10% of projects between 1995 and 2018 being completed, but highlights a recent surge in investment and project pipelines, particularly in North America and Europe. The author argues that CCS is currently only truly essential for the cement sector, as renewables outperform it in power generation and green hydrogen is expected to undercut blue hydrogen by 2030. It warns against carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) due to high energy requirements and the risk of increasing net emissions.

• CCS has a history of underperformance; between 1995 and 2018, only 27 of over 260 undertaken projects were completed, despite USD 8.5 billion in government support.
• There is a recent increase in momentum, with global investment reaching USD 2.3 billion in 2021 and a pipeline of approximately 200 facilities. BloombergNEF forecasts that global capture capacity could grow at a compound annual rate of 18% through 2030, potentially reaching 225 Mt/yr.
• North America and Europe hold over 70% of the global CCS pipeline. The US leads in operational capacity, supported by the 45Q tax credit and the Inflation Reduction Act, while European efforts in Norway, the Netherlands, and the UK focus more on storage hubs.
• CCS is deemed largely unfeasible for the power sector due to the 'energy penalty' and the superior cost-competitiveness of solar and wind, which are 40% cheaper than new gas and coal capacity even without CCS.
• CCS is identified as a necessity for the cement sector, which contributes about 7% of global emissions, because the calcination process inherently emits CO2 and lacks viable alternatives.
• Carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) are criticised for low mitigation potential. EOR is particularly problematic as the CO2 released by burning recovered fuels can more than offset the stored carbon, and large-scale CCU may increase net emissions due to high energy requirements.
• The cost of CCS varies significantly by source, ranging from USD 22/tCO2 for natural gas processing to USD 374/tCO2 for aluminium production, with transportation and storage adding up to USD 74/tCO2.

APA

Team, Z. (2022). Carbon capture and storage: where are we at? Zero Carbon Analytics. https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/energy/carbon-capture-and-storage-where-are-we-at/

Chicago

Team, ZCA. Carbon capture and storage: where are we at? Zero Carbon Analytics, 2022. https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/energy/carbon-capture-and-storage-where-are-we-at/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Team |first1=ZCA |title=Carbon capture and storage: where are we at? |publisher=Zero Carbon Analytics |date=29 September 2022 |url=https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/energy/carbon-capture-and-storage-where-are-we-at/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{team2022carbon, author = {Team, ZCA}, title = {{Carbon capture and storage: where are we at?}}, institution = {Zero Carbon Analytics}, year = {2022}, month = sep, url = {https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/energy/carbon-capture-and-storage-where-are-we-at/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }