The main topic of discussion during the United Nations climate summit in Dubai is the future of fossil fuels, which are warming the planet.
The United Nations climate summit in Dubai is centered on the future of fossil fuels, with numerous experts, activists, and countries advocating for a global accord to gradually phase out the coal, oil, and gas that are responsible for global warming. On the opposing side are energy firms and countries with abundant oil reserves that intend to continue drilling far into the future.
Carbon removal and capture are technologies that most, if not all, producers are depending on to meet their commitments to reach net-zero emissions, and they are in the background of those discussions. Critics fear the industry is overspending on technology in order to maintain the status quo.
Before the talks began, Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, stated, “The industry needs to commit to genuinely helping the world meet its energy needs and climate goals – which means letting go of the illusion that implausibly large amounts of carbon capture are the solution.”
Specifically, what is carbon capture?
A lot of industrial facilities emit carbon dioxide, including ethanol and coal-fired power plants. Businesses can install equipment to separate that gas from all the other gases coming out of the smokestack and transport it to a permanent underground storage location in order to prevent those emissions that warm the planet from reaching the atmosphere. Additionally, some industries—like cement manufacturers—are likely to always produce some carbon even in the face of efforts to reduce emissions.
Karl Hausker, a specialist in achieving net-zero emissions at the World Resources Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing climate change and advocating for significant cuts in fossil fuel consumption combined with a restricted use of carbon capture, said, “We call that a mitigation technology, a way to stop the increased concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere.”
The concentrated carbon is then delivered in a form suitable for pipeline or vehicle transportation to an underground injection site for long-term storage.
The removal of carbon comes next. The goal is to remove carbon that is already in the atmosphere, as opposed to capturing carbon from a single, concentrated source. This occurs naturally, for instance, when forests are restored, but technology is also being used more and more.
For some, removing carbon dioxide is crucial to the long-term global switch to clean energy. For instance, gas-powered cars will continue to be in use for a very long time despite notable advancements for electric vehicles in some nations. Decarbonizing certain industries, such as shipping and aviation, is a difficult task.
Leading the federally funded carbon initiative at the second-largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in the United States, Jennifer Pett-Ridge stated, “We have to remove some of what’s in the atmosphere in addition to stopping the emissions.”
Carbon capture, according to critics, can help a polluting plant stay operational longer when it otherwise would have to shut down sooner. Poorer and minority communities that have long resided close to heavily polluting facilities may be particularly harmed by this.
They also point out that the majority of carbon sequestered in the United States is now eventually injected underground to extract additional oil through a procedure known as enhanced oil recovery.
Government policies that mandate the use of fewer fossil fuels are crucial, according to Hausker. These policies can then be supplemented with carbon capture and removal.
He declared, “We aren’t going to ask Exxon to please stop developing fossil fuels.”
