Report: Putting CO2 Underground no Silver Bullet but May Have a Role in the Fight Against Climate Change

The Pembina Institute today published its position on the role of carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a tool to combat climate change and issued a public education primer that describes the major issues associated with CCS. The Institute concludes that while CCS is not a "silver bullet," it may play a role in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions — but only under certain conditions and with tough safeguards in place.

"With growing industry and government interest in CCS and talk of building a taxpayer-assisted CO₂ pipeline in Western Canada, we felt it was critical to assist the public in understanding this technological option," says Tom Marr-Laing, Policy Director with the Institute.

CCS is a process in which carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from large industry are captured, compressed and shipped by pipeline to a location where the gas is injected into underground rock formations for long-term storage, rather than being emitted to the atmosphere.

The Pembina Institute agrees with many scientists, governments and companies that industrialized countries such as Canada must embark now on a trajectory towards deep reductions in GHG emissions.

"There is no single silver bullet to do this; rather a portfolio of policy and technology tools will be needed. The most important tool is a system of mandatory, long-term restrictions on GHG emissions, particularly from industrial sources, commensurate with Canada's national GHG targets," says Marr-Laing.

Pembina's position stresses that CCS can have a significant role to play — but only with appropriate safeguards including the establishment of a strong regulatory framework to minimize the risk to people and the environment. "We need more industry-funded study on the risk of storing CO₂ in different types of geological formation and on monitoring techniques," says Mary Griffiths, the primer's main author. "Regulations must also be established to address long-term liability should a leak occur."

The Pembina position paper examines the question of public expenditure on CCS. "We believe that governments' priorities should be on sustainable energy initiatives — primarily energy conservation, efficiency and low-impact renewable energy. The technologies to implement sustainable energy initiatives at reasonable cost already exist. What we need much more of is public investment to mobilize large-scale deployment," says Marr-Laing.

However, Pembina thinks that it is also politically pragmatic to use a small percentage of the public funds devoted to GHG emission reductions to leverage much larger investments by the private sector to establish CCS infrastructure for some large industrial emission sources. In return, governments must secure industry support for deep GHG reduction targets.

The public education primer provides an overview of the current status of carbon capture technology and geological storage options and risks, as well as the potential for CCS to contribute to GHG emission reductions. It summarizes the policy initiatives and perspectives being promoted by government, industry and some environmental non-governmental organizations.

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Copies of the Institute's position paper can be downloaded here .

Download the primer .