Carbon Capture: +60% Projects in 2024, But It’s Not Enough
The year 2024 has seen a surge in carbon capture projects, but the growth rate of CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) technologies remains too slow to be a reliable and mature large-scale solution for decarbonization. This is the conclusion of the Global Status of CCS 2024 report, updated annually by the CCS Institute.
Carbon Capture Boom: The Numbers (and Why They Aren’t Enough)
The report paints an optimistic picture of the trajectory of global CO2 capture and storage projects, but the numbers also tell a story of a technology still in its early stages.
The “significant growth” in CCS project development in 2024 is impressive only in relative terms, with a year-on-year increase of 60%. In absolute numbers, however, the reality is more modest. In the past 12 months, only 9 new facilities have come online, raising the global total from 41 to 50 sites. The number of projects under construction has risen from 26 to 44. However, the majority of the expansion in the pipeline is due to projects in advanced stages of development, and most are either merely announced or in early development. Advanced-stage projects have increased from 121 to 247, and early-stage projects from 204 to 287.
Even the analysis of carbon capture capacity, both from operational and planned projects, doesn’t change the overall picture. In the past year, global CCS capacity has only increased from 49 to 51 million tons of CO2 (MtCO2) per year. The entire pipeline has grown from 361 to 416 MtCO2 annually.
For comparison: 50 MtCO2 per year is the target set by Europe alone by 2030, under the new Industrial Carbon Management Strategy presented last February. In the latest IPCC report, the average CCS capacity required by emission scenarios compatible with the 1.5°C target (with or without overshoot) is 900 MtCO2 annually by 2030.
These numbers put the boom into perspective. The report notes that from 2017 to 2024, the global carbon capture capacity has had a compound annual growth rate of 32%. The pipeline capacity has grown by 15% in the last 12 months, and the capacity under construction increased by 57% over the past year.