POWER February 2022 - 28

CARBON CAPTURE & SEQUESTRATION
Net-Zero Without Carbon
Sequestration Is 'Virtually
Impossible,' Yet Site Acquisition
and Permitting Hurdles Hinder
Implementation
In a Flagship Report, the International Energy Agency said reaching net-zero carbon
dioxide emissions is " virtually impossible " without carbon capture, utilization, and
storage. Significant progress has been made in the U.S. with respect to financial
incentives for carbon sequestration, but site acquisition and permitting timelines
remain key hurdles to meeting net-zero targets. Policymakers must address these
challenges if goals are to be achieved on schedule.
Eric L. Martin and Michael N. Mills
N
et-zero greenhouse gas emissions
by 2050, if not sooner, is
increasingly reflected in federal,
state, and corporate climate action
policies and mandates. Significant, nontechnological
hurdles, though, continue
to hinder implementation of carbon
sequestration in the U.S. despite multidecade
efforts to further carbon capture
and sequestration (CCS) in this country.
Addressing these hurdles-most importantly,
site acquisition and permitting
timelines-is critical if CCS is to help
realize these net-zero goals.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change has concluded that achieving
net-zero emissions on a global level
by 2050 is necessary to limit warming
to 2.7F above pre-industrial levels. More
than 70 countries around the world have
now set net-zero national emissions targets,
although the timing and level of
commitment among these countries vary.
Last month, for example, President Biden
signed Executive Order 14057, which calls
for the federal government's operations
to be net-zero no later than 2050 with federal
vehicles to realize this goal by 2035.
On the state level, California's goal under
Gov. Jerry Brown's Executive Order B-5518
is carbon neutrality by 2045. Many
businesses have established similar goals
at the corporate level. For example, in
October Chevron set a target of net-zero
operational emissions by 2050.
These are ambitious goals, particularly
28
in the context of emissions reductions
over the last 20 years. For example, according
to the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA's) inventory, net
greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
in 2000 totaled almost six and a half billion
metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2
)
equivalent (Figure 1). Emissions are now
lower, but those reductions are nowhere
close to the pace needed to achieve a
2050 net-zero goal.
Emissions in California-long a leader
in climate change policy-reflect a not
entirely different path from the nation
as a whole. This is despite the enactment
of Assembly Bill 32 in 2006 setting
California on the path to reduce emissions
to 1990 levels by 2020. That level
of emissions reductions was achieved,
but based on data from the California Air
Resources Board (CARB), current trends
suggest California will miss the state's
2045 goal by a wide margin (Figure 2).
Importance of CCS Recognized, but
Projects Slow to Materialize
Geologic carbon sequestration, which
involves capturing emissions and injecting
the CO2
underground permanently,
has the potential to dramatically change
that calculus. More than 20 carbon sequestration
projects are currently operating
across the globe, but the Global CCS
Institute believes that sequestration capacity
will need to increase from about
40 million metric tons per year to more
than 5,600 million metric tons per year
www.powermag.com
1. Historical data from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's Inventory of U.S.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks is
shown on this graph in units of million metric
tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e).
Courtesy: Stoel Rives
by 2050, which could require nearly $1.3
trillion of capital investment.
For nearly two decades the U.S. federal
government has been laying the
groundwork for carbon sequestration. In
2003, the U.S. Department of Energy began
funding seven regional partnerships
across the country tasked with characterizing
carbon sequestration potential,
validating opportunities, and developing
pilot projects. In 2010, the EPA promulgated
regulations for injection wells specifically
for carbon sequestration (also
known as Class VI wells). However, 11
years later, Class VI permits have been
issued for only three projects: the FutureGen
Project, which was ultimately
shelved; an existing Illinois ethanol plant,
which has sequestered about 7 million
metric tons of CO2
; and in October 2021,
for an existing North Dakota ethanol
plant. Although a few Class VI applications
are currently pending for projects in
POWER | February 2022
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POWER February 2022

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