Abstract
Mounting climate change concerns are driving unprecedented interest in carbon dioxide removal technologies. Unlike carbon capture strategies, which trap carbon dioxide at specific emission points such as power plant smokestacks, carbon removal technologies directly remove carbon dioxide from the ambient atmosphere. Fossil fuel industry stakeholders have championed carbon capture for years as a means of reducing carbon emissions while continuing the nation's heavy reliance on carbon-intensive energy sources. This focus on promoting carbon capture has delayed the development of policies specifically aimed at promoting carbon removal. As a result, humankind has yet to effectively leverage carbon removal technologies in the race against climate change. Most existing carbon dioxide sequestration policies in the United States conflate carbon removal and carbon capture in ways that ignore the unique benefits that removal technologies can provide. Deliberately distinguishing between carbon capture and carbon removal and designing policies and programs that specifically promote removal technologies could finally enable carbon removal projects and markets to assume meaningful roles in the transition to a carbon-free energy system.
Recommended Citation
Sierra Apillanes & Alexa Penalosa,
Unleashing Carbon Removal Technologies,
34
Colo. Env’t L. J.
(2023).
Available at:
https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/celj/vol34/iss1/4