Why We Need CCS, Part 2: Reactive Climate Change Mitigation

It is important to re-emphasize right at the start of this article that CCS is only a viable option if climate change is a very important factor. If it eventually turns out that long-term CO2 concentrations of 850 ppm are perfectly fine, we can drop all CCS research right now. If 650 ppm is acceptable, I would be satisfied with the current rate of progress. However, if 450 ppm indeed remains a priority, the role of CCS will probably expand dramatically over coming decades.

This series of articles is written on the assumption that the world will manage to, in some way or another, restrict long-term atmospheric CO2 concentrations somewhere in the range of 450-550 ppm. Based on historical CO2 emissions data and climate change policy developments, the most likely scenario appears to be one of delayed/ineffective proactive action followed by a somewhat desperate reactive push towards rapid decarbonization. This is the policy scenario in which CCS will do the best and is also the subject of this article.