Carbon Capture Technology's Inability to Keep Up with Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Unfortunately, current carbon capture methods are off the mark. To seriously make a big dent in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), which is 76% of all greenhouse gas emissions, technology is going to have to accelerate considerably.

According to the International Energy Agency, 40 commercial facilities are already in operation applying Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS). Since January 2022, developers have announced plans for 50 more operations capturing around 125 Mt CO2 per year. "Nevertheless, even at such a level, CCUS deployment would remain substantially below (about 1/3rd) the 1.2 Gt CO2 per year that is required in the Net Zero Emissions by 2050 (NZE) scenario."

In addition, there is a growing opposition to the use of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) due to its inadequate ability to neutralize CO2 emissions.

According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis: "Even if realized at its full potential, CCS will only account for about 2.4% of the world's carbon mitigation by 2030, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The real issue is not whether carbon can be captured; it can be captured; however, in the big picture, carbon emissions are hardened over centuries; carbon capture is a fledgling, mostly in a testing phase.

According to the news article you provided, the rate of increase in CO2 has skyrocketed, overheating the oceans and hammering Greenland. Unfortunately, carbon capture technology is struggling to keep up with this surge and is still largely in the testing phase.

The process of capturing carbon is a generational task, but the current methods, such as direct air capture and carbon capture and storage, are unable to keep up with the staggering amounts of CO2 that need to be captured to begin to make a difference.

The difficulty of removing CO2 from the atmosphere is far more challenging than simply emitting less in the first place, and current methods can only capture 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually, far less than the amount that needs to be captured.

While there are promising advances in research and development, such as the Mechanical Tree designed by Klaus Lackner, it remains to be seen whether these technologies will be able to make a significant impact in mitigating the effects of climate change.

Climate change is rapidly changing the face of the world, and it seems that human ingenuity is unlikely to bail society out of the current predicament.

Unfortunately, as the article suggests, carbon capture technology is likely to be too little too late to make a significant difference. It is essential to focus on reducing emissions and transitioning to renewable energy sources as soon as possible. This is the best way to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and protect the planet for future generations. Regardless of the daunting challenge, every effort counts, and every action matters. Today's efforts will have significant positive impacts on tomorrow's climate.