Carbon Capture Coalition Statement on the Importance of Federal Action on Carbon Management Technology Policy

The Carbon Capture Coalition released the following statement in response to the latest revelations about action on reconciliation priorities in Congress. This statement may be attributed to Coalition External Affairs Manager Madelyn Morrison: 

“We are aware of multiple press reports regarding budget reconciliation negotiations in Congress and will continue to monitor developments with our stakeholders. While there is uncertainty about next steps with the reconciliation process, it remains clear that there is broad, bipartisan support for Congress to provide robust investments in carbon management policies to deliver an essential down payment on deployment to meet critical emissions reduction targets, while retaining and creating high-wage jobs and fostering domestic energy and industrial production.

“The International Panel on Climate Change and the International Energy Agency, among many others in the global scientific community, have repeatedly reaffirmed the essential role that carbon management technologies must play in any serious effort to meet mid-century emissions reductions targets. That said, to achieve carbon capture and removal at climate scale, Congress must deliver the full portfolio of federal policy support for carbon management in any moving legislative vehicle, including a direct pay option for the 45Q tax credit, a ten-year extension of the commence construction window, increased credit values for industry, electric power and direct air capture technologies, and reduced annual CO₂ capture thresholds to boost innovation and expand eligibility. When paired with unprecedented technology demonstration and recent infrastructure investments, these transformative and bipartisan enhancements to the 45Q program would, if implemented, result in an estimated 13-fold increase in carbon management capacity and annual CO2 emissions reductions of 210-250 million metric tons by 2035.

“We now find ourselves at a critical nexus. Congress must seize the opportunity to enact the most comprehensive and meaningful climate and energy policy in U.S. history, build upon the investments made in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and in turn ensure economywide deployment of carbon capture, direct air capture, and carbon utilization technologies and associated CO2 transport and storage infrastructure.”

You can find a comprehensive overview of critically needed enhancements to the 45Q program here.

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Convened by the Great Plains Institute, the Carbon Capture Coalition is a nonpartisan collaboration of more than 90 companies, unions, conservation and environmental policy organizations, building federal policy support to enable economywide, commercial scale deployment of carbon management technologies. This includes carbon capture, removal, transport, utilization, and storage from industrial facilities, power plants, and ambient air.