Q&A: Does the world need ‘carbon capture and storage’ to reach net-zero?
This Q&A examines the role of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology in achieving global net-zero emissions targets. It balances the potential benefits for industrial decarbonization against significant criticisms regarding cost and efficacy.
Why it matters
CCS is a central, albeit controversial, pillar of international climate policy and industrial strategy.
Share When carbon dioxide (CO2) is released from a factory or power plant, the gas can be captured and permanently stored underground, preventing it from driving climate change.
This is the idea underpinning carbon capture and storage (CCS), a technology that is at the heart of many nations’ net-zero plans .
Influential organisations, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), describe CCS as “critical” for cutting emissions from key sectors – and for helping to avoid dangerous global warming.
In particular, capturing CO2 is seen as one of the only viable options for decarbonising some of the world’s highest-emitting industries, such as cement production.
The UK, for example, has committed to investing as much as £21.7bn over the coming decades in its nascent CCS industry, as part of the nation’s net-zero strategy .
Yet, in the UK and elsewhere, there has been a backlash against plans for CCS.
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