Trump rollback on clean energy puts carbon capture and storage technologies at risk

The Trump administration’s reversal of climate and clean energy policies is projected to result in billions of tons of additional carbon-dioxide emissions and stall efforts to develop carbon capture and storage (CCS) putting the fate of the ecosystem at risk, Bloomberg reported on May 30.

Trump’s roll back of the US commitment to the 2015 Paris Agreement is complicating global efforts to contain temperature rise and avoid the worst consequences of a cataclysmic meltdown of the environment should the 2C increase in temperatures above the pre-industrial benchmark be missed, say experts.

With emissions set to remain high, attention is turning to alternative solutions such as carbon removal technologies. However, those efforts are also under threat as the White House moves to cancel funding. Earlier this week, the administration scrapped $3.7bn in clean energy initiatives and proposed further cuts amounting to several billions of dollars.

“There are now some 800 carbon-removal startups funded by venture capitalists and the voluntary offset purchases of major corporations,” according to Bloomberg. “But they can only scale if they have government backing, which is something the US was ready to provide under Joe Biden.”

Direct air capture (DAC), one of the most prominent technologies in the sector, is particularly vulnerable. DAC removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by passing air over chemicals that bind with CO2. The process is energy-intensive and costly, due to the low concentration of CO2 in the air – just 0.04%. Swiss-based Climeworks, a pioneer in the field, charges over $1,000 per tonne of CO2 removed, compared to the European carbon price of €70 ($80) per tonne.

Climeworks recently announced a 22% staff reduction, citing uncertainty in the policy environment. “I definitely expect quite a few direct air capture companies to fold this year and next year,” Robert Hoglund, co-founder of carbon removal data platform CDR.fyi, told Bloomberg. “In the long run, maybe there will be five or so with the best technologies.”

While DAC has drawn most of the attention, the carbon removal sector encompasses a wide range of methods, including ocean fertilisation and the burial of biomass. These technologies, once seen as speculative, are increasingly viewed as a necessary backup to traditional emissions reductions.

While many governments, and the oil lobby in particular, have promoted carbon storage as the answer to the emissions problem, CCS won’t save the planet, say recent studies. There is simply not enough storage space to hold all the CO₂  humanity is producing. And serious investment into CCS technology is yet to begin, so the CCS online capacity remains a fraction of what is needed to make a noticeable dent in growing emissions.