Introduction to CCS
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is the new tool for combating global warming that we didn’t have in Kyoto in 1997. Across the world, business, politicians, researchers, NGOs and the public are realizing that CCS can be instrumental in achieving the level of cuts in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that we need to avoid dangerous global warming. With several pilot projects now operating globally and with more in the pipeline, this technology is starting to prove its emission mitigation potential. In the EU, funding is now available to test this technology in Europe. In other parts of the world, similar facilities in industrial scale are being built as we speak. Positive signs, for sure, but the job has just begun.
Achieving 80 – 95 % CO2 emission cuts will require a tremendous effort in transforming the economy into a low carbon economy. This can happen quickly enough only through a combination of an unprecedented increase in energy efficiency, massive deployment of renewable energy technologies, and accelerated deployment of CCS technology across the world and by applying CCS on biomass-fired energy sources to achieve net carbon negative emissions. These technical solutions exist; the challenge is making the political and industrial decision-making process more efficient.
