Tim Daiss

Opinion | Let’s get real, carbon capture is not the next big net-zero hope

Much of the time, it simply lets oil and gas multinationals justify continuing capital-intensive energy projects in the name of decarbonisation

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Storage tanks at the Northern Lights carbon capture and storage project at Blomoyna, Norway, on January 19. Part of a US$2.6 billion network, the facility is set to pump climate-warming carbon dioxide from manufacturing sites in Europe into an untouched saline aquifer deep below the seabed. Photo: Bloomberg

Tim Daiss

Published: 5:30am, 7 Jul 2024

Carbon capture and storage made a splash in the headlines again last month when China’s Dalian Shipbuilding Industry began building its third specialist vessel for the European joint venture Northern Lights, to transport liquefied carbon dioxide from emitters to storage facilities.

Northern Lights, a venture between three natural gas industry giants – Norway’s state-run Equinor, British multinational Shell and France’s TotalEnergies – has ordered at least four such vessels from Dalian Shipbuilding, a unit of Shanghai-listed China Shipbuilding Industry.

Northern Lights is building the world’s first cross-border carbon dioxide transport and storage facility; it aims to offer carbon storage services to countries. Media groups have largely applauded these moves as a way to help Europe reach its arguably ambitious decarbonisation goals.

But Europe isn’t the only region banking on the development of carbon capture and storage.

There are nearly 400 CCS projects in the pipeline globally, representing a 102 per cent year-on-year increase from 2022 to 2023, according to the Global CCS Institute. The US tops the list, followed by Britain, Canada, China and Norway. The US, for its part, has launched a US$2.5 billion programme to fund carbon capture and storage projects. But depending on the November presidential election, funding for this and other climate change mitigation policies could be in jeopardy.

Meanwhile, Japan has ambitions of becoming a powerhouse in carbon capture and storage. It led the way in launching the Asia Carbon Capture Utilisation Storage (CCUS) Network in 2021, and counts among its members the Association of Southeast Asian Nations – better known as Asean – Australia and the US.