Full Title: Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Carbon Management
Author(s): Ramsey Fahs, Rory Jacobson, Andrew Gilbert, Dan Yawitz, Catherine Clark, Jill Capotosto, Colin Cunliff, Brandon McMurtry, and Uisung Lee
Publisher(s): US Department of Energy
Publication Date: April 24, 2023
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
These Commercial Liftoff reports aim to establish a common fact base and ongoing dialogue with the private sector around the path to commercial lift-off for critical clean energy technologies. Their goal is to catalyze more rapid and coordinated action across the full technology value chain.
Modeling studies suggest reaching U.S. energy transition goals will require capturing and storing 400 to 1,800 million tonnes (MT) of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually by 2050, through both point-source carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) and carbon dioxide removal (CDR). Today, the U.S. has over 20 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of carbon capture capacity, 1–5% of what could be needed by 2050. This scale-up represents a massive investment opportunity of up to ~$100 billion by 2030 and $600 billion by 2050.
America’s >20 MTPA of capture capacity already leads the world in carbon management, and the U.S. is an attractive policy and resource environment for further deployment. Many large-scale carbon management projects are already proving financially attractive today with enhancement to the federal 45Q tax credit, and investors have raised billions to take advantage of these opportunities. This report outlines the path to meaningful scale in carbon management, which we expect to develop between near-term and longer-term opportunities through 2030. The challenges facing widespread deployment of carbon management are real but solvable.