A technology that can capture greenhouse gases from wide swaths of the economy is gaining momentum after years of slow growth. Carbon capture, utilization and storage projects worth $27 billion are close to a final investment decision, more than double the amount planned three years ago, the International Energy Agency said in a report.
“CCUS will be necessary on a global scale if we are to meet the Paris Agreement,” Norway Prime Minister Erna Solberg said in a presentation of the IEA report, referring to the 2015 landmark climate treaty. “And we must start now.”
But for emissions from the energy sector to reach net zero by 2070 — the IEA’s sustainable development scenario — the volume of CO2 captured would have to grow by a factor of 20 by the end of this decade.
CCUS is a method of capturing carbon dioxide from smokestacks and other emitters and then injecting it underground or to use in other products. But the technology is prohibitively expensive right now, with no private company willing to take on an investment in a major project without government support, a carbon price or some form of compensation for the emissions put away.
New Project
There is already some progress being made. This week, the Norwegian government proposed spending 16.8 billion Norwegian krone ($1.8 billion) to back a pioneering project that will capture and store emissions from a cement factory in southern Norway owned by HeidelbergCement AG and to partially fund emissions capture for a Fortum Oyj incineration plant in Oslo. The greenhouse gas will then be liquefied transported through pipes to a storage site underneath the North Sea. Norway’s parliament is expected to approve the spending plan later this year and construction to start.
The Norwegian facility will have more than enough capacity for the initial project. Underwater storage planned for the first phase will be able to hold 1.5 million tons of CO2 every year, much more than the 400,000 tons of the gas the cement factory produces annually. That leaves plenty of room for expansion, making it easier for other industrial sites in Europe to decide to capture their own emissions.
Norway Warned of Perils of $2.6 Billion Carbon Capture Plan
“Just by investing in this project, Norway has provided a store for all of Europe,” said Trude Sundset, chief executive officer of Gassnova, the Norwegian state enterprise in charge of carbon capture. “When other European countries see they have a system for shipping the CO2 and getting rid of it once they’ve captured it, that could change the whole situation for deployment of CCS.”
Another major step could be a ramp up in China, where President Xi Jinping has vowed to reach net zero before 2060. While it’s not clear yet how China will actually reach that goal, carbon capture could be key to get there.
“If the Chinese government announces soon the legs of these policies and targets and how to reach them, I am sure CCS will have an important emphasis,” said Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director.