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Carbon capture involves scrubbing carbon dioxide out of smokestack emissions using a chemical process. This is done at coal or natural gas power plants or at industrial facilities that make steel, concrete, or petrochemicals. The captured carbon dioxide is then transported by pipeline to sites for various uses. Carbon capture works most efficiently with high carbon dioxide-emitting processes, like the production of ethanol and cement. Removing CO2 from ordinary air, which is only about 0.04% carbon dioxide, isn’t easy.
Unfortunately, many uses of carbon capture and storage come with significant risks to public health and safety, questionable climate benefits, and potential reliance on fossil fuels for decades to come. To date, existing CCS projects don’t have an impressive track record. They can be heavily polluting and energy intensive, and they can harm already overburdened Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities, and communities experiencing poverty.
Here are a few key things to know about carbon capture and storage.
The Mississippi Power Co. carbon capture plant in DeKalb, Mississippi. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Uses for carbon dioxide
Industrial carbon removal operations can actually exacerbate climate change. Emissions from carbon capture technologies typically exceed the amounts of carbon being removed from the atmosphere. Part of the problem is that carbon capture is predominantly being used to extend the operational longevity of oil and gas wells. Some uses for captured carbon dioxide include:
- Geologic sequestration: CO2 is separated out from other pollutants, compressed, and transported through a pipeline to a storage site. From there, it can be injected into subsurface rock formations, wells almost a half mile deep, to try to keep it out of the atmosphere. The US Department of Energy has been spearheading geologic sequestration pilot projects in Illinois, Mississippi, Montana, Alabama, Michigan, and Texas.
- Industrial and commercial applications: Captured CO2 can be used in the production of plastics, cement, concrete, fuels, and steel, among other commodities, as well as in the blue hydrogen and natural gas processing sectors. Ultimately, these applications release carbon dioxide back to the atmosphere, as does the use of captured carbon in the food and beverage industry—in carbonated beverages, dry ice, and more.
- Enhanced oil recovery: For years, fossil fuel companies have been using carbon capture technologies to extend the use of coal, gas, and oil. The process involves injecting carbon dioxide into old oil wells to flush out more oil, extending operations for 20 to 25 years or more. Enhanced oil recovery accounts for 88% of all carbon dioxide use worldwide.
Kids play on a merry-go-round near an oil refinery at the Carver Terrace housing project playground in west Port Arthur, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Carbon capture concerns
Captured CO2 can leak into the air, harming human health as well as the climate. Leaks of compressed carbon can cause asphyxiation by displacing oxygen. At low levels, CO2 impairs cognitive performance, and at higher levels, it can lead to coma and death. Escaped carbon dioxide can also contaminate drinking water when it bubbles up alongside manganese, cobalt, nickel, uranium, barium, and other pollutants.
Carbon dioxide pipelines are notoriously dangerous, susceptible to fractures, and under-regulated. An estimated 66,000 miles of new pipelines will be needed for carbon capture. These pipelines have a track record of leaks and explosions, harming people as well as coastal ecology. The long-term storage facilities are also risky and unproven.
One of the biggest threats of CCS is that many existing, often abandoned oil and gas wells can intersect with new wells and storage sites, resulting in further leaks and additional pollution. Pumping carbon into underground sites can also lead to earthquakes that can further threaten the containment of CO2, jeopardize critical infrastructure, and endanger public health.
What are environmental justice concerns around carbon capture?
Carbon capture can pose significant dangers to people already taxed by petrochemical production and the burning of fossil fuels. “In the real world, this is an experiment… And this experiment is going to be conducted on the same communities that have suffered from the oil and gas industry,” said Beverly Wright, member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. Many proposed CCS projects would prolong the operation of heavily polluting industrial facilities in low-income communities of color that already experience some of the worst air quality in the country.
Takeaway
There may be a narrow role for carbon capture in cutting emissions in hard-to-electrify sectors like cement production, but only if it doesn’t prolong reliance on fossil fuels or damage the health and safety of communities living closest to the projects.
Large-scale deployment of carbon capture and storage is gambling with future generations. Most existing CCS programs internationally underperform dramatically. Some have failed outright. CCS does little to protect people from the harmful air pollutants emitted by power plants and other facilities, which is why the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis calls it “wildly unrealistic as a climate solution.” Even in the best of circumstances, fossil fuel facilities using carbon capture will continue to release more carbon than they are capturing. There’s no guarantee stored CO2 won’t return to the surface in future decades or centuries. Ultimately, focusing on carbon capture reduces resources available for clean energy and electrification solutions, and for transitioning the world away from fossil fuels.
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Updated: February 2025