Businesses and industries nationwide are increasingly placing an emphasis on climate and emissions-related goals in their daily operations. Over the past few years, we’ve seen 26 manufacturing companies take big steps toward their climate commitments through the Climate Pledge, a big push by Wall Street firms to include emissions-related results, and major energy companies investing in unique technologies to push our nation closer to a net-zero future.
However, although these commitments are critical to lowering our emissions, America cannot stop there. As more and more states develop and deploy renewable technologies, America’s leaders must embrace an all-the-above approach to energy in order to reach state climate goals and the national benchmark of net-zero emissions by 2050, while at the same time protecting and enhancing our economy.
In Pennsylvania, industries like advanced manufacturing and natural gas are critical and serve as primary contributors to the state’s economy. To effectively push the needle on achieving energy independence and reducing our emissions, we must focus on bolstering vital industries like these while also investing in new, renewable technologies that help meet climate goals.
One renewable technology taking the nation by storm does just that. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) can push the Commonwealth and the rest of the country to the forefront of the global energy transition without sacrificing our most integral industries.
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By capturing carbon emissions produced by larger-emitting industries, like power-generation and industrial processes, carbon capture and storage is the only-known technology capable of helping us reach our climate goals at such a large scale — also making it one of the most important technologies in the worldwide clean energy transition.
The U.S. continues to be at the forefront of the worldwide carbon capture and storage movement. Last year, the pipeline for CCS projects worldwide grew by 44 percent. In 2022 alone, firms announced 61 new CCS projects, bringing the total number of commercial facilities in the pipeline to 196, with most projects being in the U.S. Additionally, the Department of Energy has invested billions of dollars in research and development of CCS technologies since 1997.
As the nation builds more carbon capture capacity, Pennsylvania has a massive opportunity to get in on investing in a crucial, burgeoning technology and be a key player in the country’s clean energy transition.
Our industry leaders and elected officials can create a cleaner world, starting right here in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania has over 2 billion metric tons of CO2 capacity, with over twenty qualified facilities that can capture almost 35 million metric tons of CO2 annually. This capacity allows Pennsylvania to continue producing critical resources, like gas, while decarbonizing these large industries. Moreover, the benefits are not just environmental but economical.
If Pennsylvania retrofits one steel plant, it could create over 3,000 construction jobs and over 300 permanent jobs — and other states report similar findings.
For instance, Wyoming’s carbon capture and storage industry is estimated to create over 3,300 jobs and produce billions of dollars, while also eliminating millions of metric tons of CO2 annually with CCS technology — and this is at only ten facilities.
For Pennsylvania to play a part in, and benefit from, the world’s inevitable clean energy transition, our leaders must focus on creating more opportunities for the integration of renewable technologies like carbon capture and storage into the operations of our domestic energy producers and manufacturers. With more support, our industry leaders and elected officials can create a cleaner world, starting right here in Pennsylvania.
Becky Corbin is a former member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
In what sense can Carbon Capture and Storage be considered a “renewable” technology when it relies on methane to power its operations and produces methane leaks — as well as intentional releases — all along its production / transportation line?
I agree. Carbon capture is deeply flawed. We already have free carbon capture technology: trees. We need to stop deforestation and transition our dirty foreign energy dependence to something our children aren’t going to have to pay for through crop failures, droughts, hurricanes, and wildfires which have already accelerated to an alarming rate.
The “Climate Change” is nothing but a big hoax! The government has spent millions of taxpayer dollars on useless infrastructure and propaganda. The sun is what controls the climate. Global warming has happened over millions of years prior to the existence of man! It’s been proven by physical science. There are quite a few published scientific papers that back this up with evidence. NASA has indicated that the globe is actually cooling! They expect that by 2035 we will be entering a solar hibernation. Read the book “Dark Winter” by John L Casey, it’s an eye opener! Explains the upcoming hibernation by researching past solar cycles!!!