Today´s EU ETS price for CO2 is surprisingly (to many) quite high: € 29.76 per tonne. By constraining the supply of CO2 warrants, the EU will try to raise that price througout the 2020´s. With the cost of CCS at about $75 per tonne I suppose there is a chance that only slightly improved processes can make CCS commercially worthwhile at some point, at least in the EU.

Norway put a billion or so dollars into bringing CCS into line economically for industrial flue gases. That project failed and is now mostly mothballed.

However, it should be remembered that use of CO2 warrants are only required for combusion processes in which CO2 is emitted (plus certain emissions of N2O and PFCs). If warrants were required for any and all CO2 and GHG emissions, there would be more pressure on the price and more CO2 sequestered.

But, I think it is still doubtful that there are enough opportunities such as those in which CO2 must be removed from a gas stream, such as with methane production and transport, to make a sizable dent in ghg emissions.

I hope I am wrong. The US EPA and DOE under Obama made a strong case that carbon targets cannot be met without CCS, especially for coal combustion. However, much has changed in many arenas since then (to say the least).

It will likely be evaluated again in the new government as part of the Green New Deal (excuse my optimism). The demonstrated effectiveness of the ETS in restraining carbon emissions, though slow to start and erratic, may make it tempting for the US to try something similar. I certainly hope the US learns the hard lessons from the EU experience and improves from there. At the very least, it would require that actual ghg emissions be reported so that progress, or lack thereof, can be tracked.

Energy Efficient CCS