UPDATED 1 Sept: The EI library in London is temporarily closed to the public, as a precautionary measure in light of the ongoing COVID-19 situation. The Knowledge Service will still be answering email queries via email , or via live chats during working hours (09:15-17:00 GMT). Our e-library is always open for members here: eLibrary , for full-text access to over 200 e-books and millions of articles. Thank you for your patience.
17 large-scale CCS facilities now online, four more to follow in 2018
A total of 17 large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities are operating globally, capturing around 37mn tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum (the equivalent of around eight million cars), according to the latest report from the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute (GCCSI).
However, the Global Status of CCS Report: 2017 says that this number will need to increase dramatically if the world is to meet the Paris climate change agreement, to around 2,000 CCS facilities by 2040.
Two facilities came online in the US in 2017, and four more CCS facilities are due to be completed in 2018. In Asia and the Pacific, 11 CCS facilities are in various stages of development – including eight in China. To date, more than 220mn tonnes of anthropogenic carbon dioxide has been injected deep underground through CCS, says the report.
Of the operating facilities, four are located in Norway and the Middle East, and 12 are located in the US and Canada. In the US, Petra Nova and Illinois Industrial came online in the last 12 months, and CCS facilities now exist in the US in the natural gas processing, power, fertiliser, hydrogen and biofuels industrial sectors, says GCCSI.
The report also highlights CCS’ role in being able to decarbonise industrial emissions. It was launched at COP 23 in Bonn, where the GCCSI CEO Brad Page said renewables alone would not meet international climate change targets, and expert opinion was conclusive that CCS must be part of a suite of clean technologies needed achieve below 2ºC targets.
Speaking at the launch Lord Nicholas Stern, Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said: ‘Most serious analysis has concluded that it will be very difficult to achieve the Paris goals without carbon capture and storage or use… [CCS] can play a key role in the transition to low carbon economic growth and development in many parts of the world.’
