Full Title: Utilities and Carbon Removal A Gigaton Scale Opportunity
Author(s): Nick Pappas, Jon Martindill, Ben Rubin, and Isabella Corpora
Publisher(s): Carbon Business Development Council and Carbon Business Council
Publication Date: October 8, 2024
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Energy utilities and Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) are important and parallel threads on the path to deep decarbonization. Utilities, especially electric utilities, are leading the energy sector decarbonization efforts — integrating gigawatts of new clean energy resources each year while preparing for surging demand from new climate loads, including transportation and building electrification, clean fuels production, and now carbon removal. Carbon Removal, a suite of pathways to draw carbon down from the atmosphere, is emerging as a necessary complement to direct emissions reduction measures for legacy emissions and hard-to-abate sectors.
In this report, they examine four key threads which intertwine energy utilities and carbon removal, articulating synergistic opportunities and challenges and identifying key questions for industry and policy thought leaders:
– Utility Decarbonization: What role could CDR play on energy utilities’ path to net zero?
– Climate Loads: How can energy-intensive CDR access low-cost, low-carbon energy?
– Utility-CDR Nexus: How and where can CDR pathways be integrated into utility assets and operations?
– Utility Regulatory Ecosystem: How might regulators assess and weight utility CDR investments?
In developing this report, it is apparent that partnerships between the two industries will be critical for their respective success — and achieving those partnerships will require additional engagement, expanded technical expertise, and collaborative policy development on both sides. While many of these issues remain underdeveloped, they strive to identify key recommendations and questions for policymakers and industry thought leaders.