Amid the accelerating climate crisis, the urgency to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 has become a global imperative, with some required technologies still in need of rapid development.

While photovoltaics and electric vehicles march towards widespread adoption, critical technologies like Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) lag behind.

CCUS is an urgently required solution for hard to abate emissions and to clean up historical emissions due to the lag of action in reducing emissions, we also need to reduce the stock of CO2 in the atmosphere. The latter is usually called carbon dioxide removal (CDR).

This disparity not only presents significant risks but also a substantial opportunity to pioneer a renaissance in carbon management.

Carbon Technologies Explained

These days, we frequently group CCUS as a single set of technologies yet they encompass two distinct approaches.

CCS primarily aims to reduce atmospheric CO2 through permanent storage, a necessity for heavy industries like steel, cement, and fertilizer, which otherwise face challenges in reducing emissions.

CCU, on the other hand, recycles CO2 into products, sometimes valuable products, although this does not always equate to permanent sequestration.

Both CCS and CCU need to capture CO2. These capture technologies are well known and improvement has been made in reducing energy use in the processes, be it from capturing tailpipe emissions, removing carbon from the fuel to produce hydrogen, or recycling the CO2 in the process to end up with a concentrated stream of CO2.

Originally designed for power production, these post-combustion, pre-combustion, and oxy-fuel technologies are now increasingly applied in industrial settings.

Despite the rising dominance of renewable energy, which diminishes the appeal of new CCUS installations in power generation, these technologies remain crucial for retrofitting existing installations.

For example, Asia has a large fleet of relatively young coal-fired power plants that are unlikely to be decommissioned anytime soon. Therefore, CCUS will continue to play a vital strategic role in the region's power sector and much needed to decarbonize fast enough.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) underscores that CCS and CCU are not alone in their slow progress; however, their lag is particularly consequential. In a recent report from the IEA that tracks progress since COP28, the lag in deploying CCUS and clean hydrogen is particularly worrying, only highlighting the need to embrace the current developments and accelerate these solutions.

According to another IEA report, a five-year delay in developing and deploying CCUS technologies would halve the CO2 emissions being captured worldwide in 2030 compared to the needed amounts in the Sustainable Development Scenario.

Despite their potential to significantly mitigate global warming, current global CCS and CCU deployment is a fraction of the gigaton-scale needed by the 2030s and 2040s. Currently, the deployment stands at about 50 million tons per year, starkly insufficient against the looming deadlines. Globally, we would need about 20 times more per year by 2030.

Historical Barriers and Missed Opportunities

The CCUS journey has been fraught with challenges. In Europe, targets were set for 10-15 operational plants by 2015, supported by the EU commission through various schemes. However, a viable business model was missing, complicated by regulatory and logistical barriers that discouraged investment and innovation.

The European Trading System (ETS) for emission quotas, intended as a financial mechanism, failed to provide stability. The system initially collapsed due to the issuance of free quotas and inflated emission baselines, which drove the prices down to as low as €5 per ton of CO2.

Such an economic environment rendered the business model—which relied on generating income by avoiding the purchase of ETS quotas—impractical, particularly when the costs of CCS ranged between €100-200 per ton.

Strategic Shifts

Significant changes have since been implemented. The EU has enacted robust climate legislation, including the European Green Deal, aiming for climate neutrality by 2050 and a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

The necessity for a carrot and stick approach intensified following the Ukraine conflict, which disrupted Russian gas imports due to pipeline sabotage in the Baltic Sea.

This situation underscores the EU's need for energy autonomy, prompting a shift towards massive renewable energy deployments, such as wind and solar, and strategic partnerships with aligned nations like Norway, now the EU's largest piped gas supplier.

Additionally, the EU is adapting through increased energy efficiency, having already reduced gas usage by 15%. These efforts are vital not only for reducing fossil fuel dependence but also for maintaining industrial production and integrating sufficient hydrogen to replace natural gas.

These ambitious EU targets are now backed by more robust policies and higher ETS prices, improving the economic viability of CCUS projects.

The EU's Industrial Carbon Management Strategy anticipates a need for escalating CO2 storage capacity, targeting 50 million tons per year by 2030 and reaching 450 million tons by 2050.

These are not just projections but necessities if we are to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change.

The North Sea region is paving the way having most of the CO2 storage capacity in Europe at present. Collaboration between regions and actors is needed when CO2 sources and CO2 storage sites are to be properly matched going forward.

New Regulations and Future Outlook for CO2 Storage

Recent regulations mandating fossil fuel producers in the EU to provide necessary storage capacities are set to be transformative. By 2030, these producers are required to contribute storage equivalent to their market share over the past four years.

This regulation not only provides a clear price signal but also facilitates the necessary infrastructure for CCS to flourish.

The debate around CCU centers on the efficiency of extracting CO2 from flue gases or air, only to potentially re-emit it by using it to produce fuels. While current processes, such as those used in making beverages, do not offer long-term carbon storage, employing CO2 in recyclable materials or disposing of it through CCS presents viable options.

Looking ahead to 2040-2050, when fossil fuel use will dramatically decrease, identifying sustainable carbon sources becomes critical. CCU emerges as a key solution, recycling carbon in a similar way we handle strategic materials. Most products contain carbon.

Although currently less energy-efficient, the increasing shift towards renewable, nearly emission-free electricity will enhance the feasibility of using CO2 to create carbon-based products, such as plastics and clothing, that must otherwise rely on biogenic sources or recycling.

This approach is essential as we aim to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide and maintain global warming well below two degrees Celsius.

A Renaissance For CCUS?

The EU is not alone in recognizing the importance of CCS and CCU technologies for reducing emissions. With a CCS renaissance on the horizon, supported by robust mechanisms, it's time to accelerate these solutions.

This involves not only advancing technology but also aligning policies, investments, and public perception to foster an environment where such technologies can thrive and contribute significantly to global climate goals. Fast.

© 2024 Forbes Media LLC. All