Carbon capture, storage emerge as a contentious issue after COP28 meet

New Delhi: A person points at a stack of trays holding treated limestone, used to absorb CO2 from the air, at Heirloom's new plant, in Tracy, California, on November 9. After the UN climate summit earlier this month agreed to slowly phase out fossil fuels to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, a mitigation measure known as carbon capture, utilisation and storage has emerged as a contentious issue among experts and analysts. This was in line with an analysis done by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s largest body of climate experts, which said: “All pathways that limit global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius with limited or no overshoot project the use of carbon dioxide removal.” Experts have been wary of this because such a provision could allow nations to continue expanding the use of planet- warming fossil fuels while depending on carbon capture technologies in a big way. Abatement technologies such as CCUS, carbon removal technologies and low-carbon hydrogen are code words for climate inaction and new fossil fuels subsidies,” said Lili Fuhr, director of the Center for International Environmental Law’s fossil economy programme. “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.” That hasn’t stopped wealthy nations such as the US announcing major funding for CCUS technology.