With carbon capture and storage, companies claim they can capture CO₂ emissions either at the smokestack or from the atmosphere, transport it in pipelines, and inject it underground. According to the industry, carbon capture is supposed to keep climate-changing emissions out of the atmosphere. However, this is an expensive, proven-to-fail technology that helps greenwash dirty industries.

To keep CO₂ out of the atmosphere, it must be stored underground for centuries — a feat that hasn’t proven possible.¹Verdon, James P. et al. “Comparison of geomechanical deformation induced by megatonne-scale CO₂ storage at Sleipner, Weyburn, and In Salah.” PNAS. Vol. 110, No. 30. July 2013 at E2762; Vinca, Adriano et al. “Bearing the cost of stored carbon leakage.” Frontiers in Energy Research. Vol. 6, Article 40. May 2018 at 3. Moreover, storage would depend on inherently leaky and dangerous technology like pipelines, underground gas storage, and high-pressure injection.²Vinca, Adriano et al. “Bearing the cost of stored carbon leakage.” Frontiers in Energy Research. Vol. 6, Article 40. May 2018 at 3.

As of September 2023, almost all of captured carbon is used in enhanced oil recovery, by which companies inject CO₂ into reservoirs to drive the last dregs of oil to the surface.³Congressional Budget Office. “Carbon Capture and Storage in the United States.” December 2023 at 1 and 9; Klinge, Naomi. “US representatives propose legislation that would exclude EOR from 45Q tax credits for CCS.” Upstream. December 15, 2021. In other words, the oil and gas industry uses captured CO₂ to extract more fossil fuels.

Additionally, carbon capture faces huge technical, financial, and environmental barriers. For example, despite billions in government support, power plant carbon capture technology remains prohibitively expensive.⁴Bui, Mai et al. “Carbon capture and storage (CCS): The way forward.” Energy & Environmental Science. Vol. 11, Iss. 5. May 2018 at 1062, 1132 and 1140. Most projects have been shelved after delays and cost blowouts.⁵Shelton-Thomas, Oakley. “Carbon Capture: Billions of Federal Dollars Poured Into Failure.” FWW. September 27, 2022.

Dirty industries — including oil, gas, and ethanol — are turning toward carbon capture and storage to serve as greenwashing cover. It allows them to claim to be doing good for the climate, while maintaining their polluting operations.