Why the carbon capture subsidies in the climate bill are good news for emissions

In the debate over carbon capture, it is often lost that the technology can also play a role in reducing emissions. Cement, steel, andfertilizer are some of the industries that need to be cleaned up. The measures can support the development of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, or BECCS, which the UN climate panel relies on heavily in sketching out feasible scenarios that prevent the planet from warming more than 2 C.

Paulina Jaramillo is a professor of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University.

It will be important to drive down the cost of other carbon capture efforts so that it is more affordable to clean up a broader range of products. It will give a boost to the efforts to suck the greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere on massive scales, which a growing body of research finds will be essential for keeping global warming in check. Carbon removal is different from capturing emissions before they leave a power plant.

The package will drive about $28 billion in capital investments in carbon dioxide transportation and storage projects, as well as power plants with carbon capture equipment, by the year 2030. With the infrastructure bill that passed last year, US facilities would trap and sequester 200 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, a 13 fold increase over what would likely occur. According to the analysis, the amount of captured carbon will more than double in the next two decades. The nation's greenhouse-gas emissions totaled over 5 billion tons in 2011.

The IRA gives the US an opportunity to do carbon capture and storage right, according to the chief scientist at Carbon Direct. It gives opportunities to reduce pollution in communities, to grow and test technologies, to create clean jobs, and to be globally competitive.

The details

Hundreds of billions of dollars in grants, loans, federal procurements, and tax credits are part of the IRA. It could speed up the development of carbon capture and storage.

The 45Q tax credits are increased for projects that capture, remove, and store carbon. Companies in certain sectors can break even or even profit from adding equipment and managing carbon if the subsidies are larger.

According to an analysis by the law firm, the credit increases from $50 a metric ton to $85 a ton for power plants that permanently sequester carbon dioxide. The credit for facilities that remove carbon dioxide from the air and store it away permanently was raised from $50 to $180.