Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) has the potential to provide significant environmental, economic, and security benefits as the future of the country and world pushes towards a transition away from energy sources that emit CO2. By storing CO2 safely underground, we prevent that CO2 from entering the atmosphere and contributing to the warming of the planet. CCUS is believed to be the only method that can mitigate to scale large stationary sources of CO2 emissions that are historically difficult to manage, including electric power plants, cement factories, oil refineries, and steel works.
The scientific community agrees that, even with substantial increases in energy efficiency, conservation, and the deployment of non-CO₂-emitting renewable energy technologies, CO₂ emissions are likely to continue to grow for the foreseeable future due to an increasing global population. Environmentally safe CO2 storage offers a way to prevent the rise of atmospheric levels of CO₂ that contribute to the rising temperature of the Earth, a goal that nearly 200 nations have pledged to work in the Paris Climate Accord.
Carbon storage currently offers the most viable way to generate electricity at its current level while significantly reducing the impact on the environment. And in the instances of using of CO2 (for enhanced oil recovery) to increase oil production, we are assisting industry in reducing CO2 emissions while they manage the massive task of navigating the energy transition. The large-scale geologic storage of CO2 has the potential to capture and store up to 90 percent of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere from these large sources, while at the same time, when combined with already existing oil fields, produce additional oil that would otherwise not be recovered.