Is "Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage" a Trick to Keep Using Fossil Fuels Recklessly? [Reading Science]

A domestic power plant generating electricity from fossil fuels. Although this power plant uses fossil fuels, it is also equipped with carbon dioxide capture and storage facilities.
[Photo by Korea Midland Power promotional screen capture]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jonghwa] The biggest cause of 'climate change' is 'carbon.' Carbon reacts well with oxygen and is released into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide. The excessive amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which raises the Earth's temperature, can be called climate change.

Absorbing as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as is emitted, making the net carbon emissions effectively '0,' is called 'climate neutral.' The essential technology for achieving this climate neutrality is 'Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).'

This carbon capture and storage technology was once criticized as a 'trick to freely use fossil fuels.' Why did such criticism arise? It is analyzed that the anxiety stemmed from the uncertainty of the technology.

CCS is a technology that collects and stores carbon dioxide emitted in large quantities from industrial facilities or power plants. It separates and compresses carbon dioxide from other gases, liquefies it, and buries or seals it underground. It can be described as a technology that returns carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere back underground.

Recently, the collected carbon dioxide is also used as a raw material in industry. In other words, CCS is a transitional technology that can slow climate change until humanity completely stops using fossil fuels. However, some countries have turned away from this technology due to several issues raised.

If the carbon dioxide stored by CCS is released due to an accident, the area storing the carbon dioxide could face a serious situation. There is also an argument that companies, trusting CCS technology, might use fossil fuels more freely. It is like a person trying to lose weight taking weight-loss medicine and then overeating, with CCS becoming a 'get-out-of-jail-free card' allowing more fossil fuel use.

Especially, politicians in Germany, which is actively pursuing energy transition goals to raise the share of renewable energy to 40-45% by 2025 and over 80% by 2050, have treated CCS as a technology not worth discussing anymore because it could become a 'get-out-of-jail-free card.'

However, to stop the increasingly rapid global warming, humanity must reduce carbon emissions. If fossil fuel use continues and no technology surpassing CCS is developed, wouldn't we have no choice but to actively utilize CCS technology?

The appearance of a carbon dioxide storage facility operating domestically. The long cylindrical tank at the bottom of the photo is the storage facility.
[Photo by Korea Midland Power Co., Ltd. promotional screen capture]

The European Union (EU) Commission has judged that CCS technology is essential to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. Germany, which was negative about CCS, also expects that CCS technology will play an important role in reducing carbon emissions in the mid to long term, and the UK has determined that "CCS is not an option but a necessity" for climate neutrality.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) under the UN included CCS in its latest report's scenario to limit the Earth's average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to current levels. Norway is currently the leading country in the CCS field. Two CCS facilities are operating in Norway, and there is also a plan to store carbon emitted by neighboring countries under the Norwegian seabed.

Korea also plans to actively utilize CCS technology and is searching for sites to build storage facilities. Thanks to scientists' efforts, CCS technology, which previously showed drawbacks in cost and safety, is gradually improving. We hope the day will come soon when the global carbon dioxide emissions reach '0' and climate neutrality can be declared.