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As A Proven And Flexible Technology, Carbon Capture Can Help Enable Net Zero – If We Support It

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

Despite the economy-crushing pandemic, last year was a very good year for renewable energy: Global capacity increased 45%, the largest jump for renewables in more than two decades. Yet even as wind and solar power become more pervasive, renewables alone aren’t enough to achieve net zero by 2050.  

A breadth of solutions is needed to remove carbon emissions, such as hydrogen, sustainable bioenergy and various approaches to reducing and reusing the energy consumed in our homes, offices and factories. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) will play a significant role as well. After all, CCS technologies available today can absorb more than 90% of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated by power stations and industrial plants that rely on fossil fuels.

In its latest report on the technology, the International Energy Agency (IEA) declared that without CCS, it will be impossible to achieve the ambitious targets of the Paris Agreement.

However, unlike the support that has driven the growth of renewable energy, policy to develop CCS has had its share of stops and starts. To decarbonize areas of the economy that cannot be simply electrified, we need a coordinated effort to rapidly scale CCS and CCU (carbon capture and utilization) markets.

A solution for multiple industries

CCS shows the most promise in helping to reach net zero emissions in decarbonizing heavy industries and long-distance transport. Industries such as iron, steel and chemical manufacturing rely heavily on fossil fuel-generated industrial heat, or use coal and gas as feedstocks. Some will ultimately move to hydrogen. However, for the likes of the cement industry, CCS is virtually the only route to significant emission cuts.

Not only can CCS take carbon out of the emissions generated by cement making, but it can be put to work afterwards, injected in concrete to reinforce it while also creating a permanent CO2 repository.

Carbon capture systems could help the shipping industry comply with regulations to halve its greenhouse gas emissions over the next three decades.

Another application is synthetic fuel production. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group has already demonstrated how captured carbon and renewable hydrogen can be used to synthesize methanol in several industrial settings. This could be another low-carbon option for fueling long-distance transportation such as aviation and shipping.

Carbon capture systems are also being tested onboard ships and could help the shipping industry comply with regulations to halve its greenhouse gas emissions over the next three decades.

Impact on hydrogen and bioenergy

The European Commission’s (EC) hydrogen strategy sets out another role for CCS. To build a market for hydrogen generated from renewable electricity, the EC will need to stimulate demand. But to ensure sufficient resources to meet that demand, Europe will first need to ramp up fossil fuel-based hydrogen production, combining it with CCS to minimize carbon levels.

CCS could deliver negative emissions as well when coupled with bioenergy, by actively and permanently removing CO2 emissions from the atmosphere. Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) applies CCS to power plants, which can generate stable, reliable and baseload power and heat from renewable resources like biomass. It can also be used to remove CO2 emissions from waste-to-energy plants.

The IEA has called BECCS the most mature of all carbon removal technologies.

With its BECCS pilot facility at Drax Power Station in the U.K. – the country’s largest renewable power generator – MHI Engineering is engaged in testing the technology. The project is expected to enhance Drax’s technical understanding for delivering negative emissions. Once BECCS is scaled up, Drax expects to achieve more than 17 million tons in negative emissions annually − a third of the negative emissions the U.K. needs to reach its 2050 net zero goal. BECCS projects are also underway in Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Growing support for scaling

CCS technology exists today, along with a number of utilization technologies. But to realize their considerable impact on net zero will take a consolidated effort to scale them.

Enabling the rapid deployment of proven CCS technology in the market will take a joint – and urgent – effort from policymakers, investors and industry worldwide.

Norway is reviving its CCS efforts by funding a series of projects, including deploying CCS at a cement factory and a waste plant. A related project plans to pipe the captured carbon to the North Sea, where it will be stored permanently underwater.

In addition to the role of CCS in the European Commission’s hydrogen strategy, the EU Innovation Fund, which is dedicated to demonstrating innovative low-carbon solutions, will support the technology as well.

The EC has also recently announced funding for CO2 transportation infrastructure through its Connecting Europe Facility. This will see the Netherlands and Belgium develop a carbon transportation network across three key ports, leading to an offshore storage site.

A collective and urgent endeavor

In its report, the IEA proposes four high-level priorities for governments and industry that would accelerate the progress of carbon capture over the next decade.

Along with direct support for ongoing projects through stimulus packages, there is a pressing need to stimulate investment in the technology, creating incentives such as direct capital grants, tax credits, operational subsidies and risk-sharing in projects, or disincentives such as carbon pricing mechanisms.

At the same time, governments need to drive the development of industrial hubs with shared CO2 infrastructure. One example is the North Sea CCU Hub at North Sea Port, an area stretching along the Belgian and Dutch coastlines. Alongside capturing carbon from participating companies, the hub will also synthesize chemicals and fuels such as methanol.

While the IEA considers global CO2 storage resources sufficient to meet and even exceed future demand, the onus will be on governments to identify and support CO2 storage in strategic locations, including a strong regulatory framework for storage and transportation.

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Finally, the need for funding innovation remains an ongoing priority. The IEA estimates that almost two-thirds of the cumulative emissions reductions required by 2070 depend on technologies at the prototype stage or, at best, in the demonstration phase.

But national policymakers shouldn’t tackle these priorities in isolation. Enabling the rapid deployment of proven CCS technology in the market will take a joint effort from policymakers, investors and industry worldwide. The heavy lifting must become an international priority − and it must happen with a sense of urgency. The energy transition demands it.