CCS – the road to nowhere
SPECIAL ENVOY:
“Good Day, Ladies and Gentlemen,
“In the corridors of COP28, I have heard a strange abbreviation: CCS, Carbon Capture and Storage. Supposedly an innovative technology of which the COP President seems to be a great fan. What is behind that? And what do we Dugongs think of this?
“CCS – Carbon Capture and Storage – is a technology that captures CO2 emissions where large amounts of coal, oil or fossil gas are being burned. The CO2 is then transported by pipelines or gas tankers to old, depleted gas fields into which it is injected.
“Simple, right? Great!
“Ladies and Gentlemen, it is not that simple.
“The technology does not work: The few industrial size plants that exist all show really bad efficiency – they only capture between 10 and 60% of the CO2 emitted.
“It is much too costly: according to a new study by Oxford University, relying on CCS would cost at least $30 trillion more than a pathway based primarily on renewable energy…
“To capture ALL the CO2 emissions would mean to do so from every house and every car… that is a technical and economic impossibility.
“There is a history of failures: for 50 years, the fossil fuel industry has been overpromising and under-delivering on CCS.
To my knowledge, most commercial CCS projects have been used for Enhanced Oil Recovery – meaning that CCS facilitates the extraction of even more fossil fuels!
“And we have a big TRUST ISSUE: The oil and gas industry continues to propose it – as a smoke screen behind which they hide.
“Most data available on CCS is delivered by… yes, by the oil and gas industry themselves! They are essentially regulating and controlling themselves, and hardly anyone checks.
“Luckily, the Dugongs are not alone in telling the COP negotiators: “DROP CCS from your discussions!”
“And worst of all, my home, the Marawah Biosphere Reserve, off the coast of Abu Dhabi, is threatened by the Ghasha fossil gas extraction project, that is being greenwashed as a supposedly “net-zero” project where CCS would make emissions disappear. The very person who is supposed to lead the world towards ending fossil fuels, is using the false solution of CCS to justify more fossil gas drilling in my home in the Marawah Biosphere Reserve.
“That is too much, even for a patient Dugong!
“Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen.”
H.E. The Special Envoy delivers daily commentary on the situation of the Dugongs, their struggle to keep their habitats intact, and also on the progress of the negotiations. Always at 1 PM in the B1 building.
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