Carbon Capture Coalition Statement on the Upcoming Leaders Summit on Climate

The Carbon Capture Coalition today issued the following statement in recognition of Earth Week and in advance of the Leaders Summit on Climate, a two-day virtual event hosted by President Biden featuring world leaders and designed to “galvanize efforts by the world’s major economies to reduce emissions during this critical decade” on the road to net-zero emissions by midcentury. The following statement may be attributed to Carbon Capture Coalition Director Brad Crabtree.

“To meet midcentury climate goals, the entire suite of carbon management tools – carbon capture, removal, transport, utilization, and storage – is essential.  Deploying these tools as quickly as possible over the next ten years will be vital, not only to meeting ambitious emissions reduction targets expected to be laid out by the administration, but also to safeguarding and creating American jobs across industrial, electricity, manufacturing and other sectors.

“Rapidly growing bipartisan support for carbon management technologies underscores the dual role carbon capture will play in meeting climate targets and ensuring that we create quality, high-wage jobs that support local communities and regions across our country. In fact, recent analyses by the Rhodium Group demonstrate the potential for creating tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of new jobs from carbon capture and direct air capture deployment, respectively, if these technologies are deployed at levels needed to meet midcentury climate goals.

“Furthermore, the carbon capture provisions in President Biden’s “American Jobs Plan” represent one of the most significant areas of common ground on climate policy between Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill and the White House. The president and a large, diverse number of Democratic and Republican lawmakers recognize the value and contribution of carbon management technologies to meeting multiple goals: addressing climate change, preserving American technology leadership abroad, ensuring family-sustaining wages for all Americans and sustaining vital domestic industries as they decarbonize.  

If enacted by Congress, the carbon capture provisions in the “American Jobs Plan” would represent the world’s largest commitment to scaling carbon capture technologies to date. The President’s plan features key policy recommendations cited in the Carbon Capture Coalition’s 2021 Federal Policy Blueprint, including:

• Direct pay and a multiyear extension of the Section 45Q tax credit, the Coalition’s top priorities;
• Increasing the value of the 45Q tax credit to expand and accelerate deployment in sectors essential to meeting net-zero targets, including industry, power generation and direct air capture;
• Key provisions of the bipartisan SCALE Act to provide federal low-interest loans and funding for the buildout of an interconnected CO₂ transport and geologic storage infrastructure network to capture and securely store carbon emissions from industrial facilities, power plants and future direct air capture facilities; and
• Increased investment in commercial-scale demonstration of carbon capture technologies in critical industry sectors.

“These provisions, as laid out in the “American Jobs Plan”, build upon widely supported, broadly bipartisan legislation already introduced this Congress, and they are required to boost economywide deployment of carbon capture technologies and associated infrastructure. They include direct pay, multiyear extension and increased values for the 45Q tax credit, improvements to other federal incentives, and robust federal financing and funding for scaling up the development of CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure.

“Effective, durable climate policy will be achieved with the backing of a very broad range of lawmakers and stakeholders. This week, President Biden has the opportunity to marshal a diverse and bipartisan coalition of companies, NGOs and labor unions that all agree on the role that carbon capture must play in meeting deep emissions reductions targets. Large-scale deployment of carbon capture across the country will also enable the decarbonization of existing industrial facilities and power plants, while protecting and creating quality American jobs and providing environmental benefits to communities and regions that depend on domestic energy, industry, and manufacturing.

“We look forward to learning more about the administration’s new emissions reduction goal and will continue to build bipartisan support for effective climate action here at home – which must include economywide carbon capture, removal, transport, utilization and storage.”

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The Carbon Capture Coalition is a nonpartisan collaboration of more than 80 businesses and organizations building federal policy support for economywide deployment of carbon capture, removal, transport, utilization, and storage. Our mission is to reduce carbon emissions to meet midcentury climate goals, foster domestic energy and industrial production, and support a high-wage jobs base through the adoption of carbon capture technologies. Convened by the Great Plains Institute, Coalition membership includes industry, energy, and technology companies; energy and industrial labor unions; and conservation, environmental, and energy policy organizations.