Britain announced two new carbon capture and storage projects on Monday (July 31) as part of its target to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Olivia Zollino explains what carbon capture is, and how it works. - REUTERS
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00:00 Britain is doubling down on its commitment to carbon capture.
00:05 It announced fresh support for two projects this week, after pledging in March that it
00:10 would invest over $25 billion in the tech.
00:14 And it's all part of its effort to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
00:19 But is carbon capture the way?
00:22 There are two main types of carbon capture and storage.
00:25 Direct source carbon capture and storage, or CCS, captures CO2 produced at the source,
00:30 like a smokestack.
00:32 Direct air capture, or DAC, removes CO2 already released into the atmosphere.
00:38 Stuart Gilfillan with the University of Edinburgh says carbon capture is an essential way to
00:43 help fight climate change.
00:44 The reason for that is because it's the only thing that we can use to directly take away
00:49 the emissions or prevent the emissions from combustion of fossil fuels to the atmosphere.
00:55 The two British projects that won backing are designed to capture emissions from heavy
00:58 emitting sectors like oil and gas refining.
01:02 It will then be stored underground off the coast of Britain, in depleted oil and gas
01:06 fields.
01:07 CCS has been used since the 1970s.
01:10 The Global CCS Institute says more than 220 million tonnes of CO2 have been captured and
01:17 stored.
01:18 But many existing projects have failed to produce the carbon savings promised.
01:22 My take on this is very simple, that if the government actually cared about net zero CO2
01:27 emissions and reaching those targets, they would simply announce that those licenses
01:31 for the new oil and gas exploration would be conditional on all of the emissions being
01:36 stored or all of the emissions that result from the combustion of those new fossil fuel
01:40 projects to be captured and stored and buried safely underground.
01:45 A report from a United Nations panel of scientists says CCS can play a role in helping to reach
01:50 global climate targets.
01:52 But they underscored the need to focus on reducing emissions first.
01:57 Britain is aiming to capture and store up to roughly 30 million tonnes a year by 2030,
02:04 equal to the emissions from 15 million cars.
02:08 Environmental groups question how effectively CCS can curb emissions though, as technology
02:14 enables fossil fuel companies to operate longer and more efficiently.
02:19 While announcing the two new CCS projects, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also granted
02:25 hundreds of new licenses for oil and gas extraction.