New IPCC Report Reconfirms the Essential Role of Carbon Management Technologies in Meeting Midcentury Climate Goals

On March 20, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the Summary for Policymakers of the Sixth Assessment Synthesis Report, WGIII Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, to guide international efforts to limit warming and track progress in meeting the Paris Agreement, a global pact agreed to in 2015 to limit global temperature rise to “well below 2˚C”. Since then, the IPCC has released subsequent reports outlining the dangerous impacts temperature increases beyond 1.5 ˚C will have on the global climate, nature, and society.  

The following statement can be attributed to Jessie Stolark, executive director of the Carbon Capture Coalition:   

“In the latest report from the IPCC issued on March 20, the world’s scientific community once again reaffirms the essential importance and complimentary role of carbon management technologies in a net zero near future, including carbon capture, removal  and reuse in meeting net-zero emissions. 

“Today’s Summary for Policymakers summarizes and combines the recommendations from previous IPCC reports in the Sixth Assessment cycle, including the Working group III: mitigation report, issued in April 2022. These reports have been developed and reviewed by hundreds of renowned scientists across the globe and endorsed by multiple governments. The new 2023 synthesis report confirms the critical role that dramatically accelerated deployment of carbon management technologies and associated infrastructure must play in managing emissions from existing industrial facilities and power plants, balancing emissions from challenging-to-decarbonize sectors, and removing legacy CO₂ emissions from the atmosphere.  

“With the enactment of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS + Science Act and recent critical enhancements to the 45Q tax credit, Congress and the administration have established a comprehensive policy framework for widescale deployment of the full suite of carbon management technologies by 2030, ensuring projects and infrastructure can be scaled in timeframes that are consistent with meeting midcentury climate goals.   

“The task ahead requires us to heed the continued and increasing alarms being sounded by the world’s scientific community and implement the available policy framework in a swift and effective manner, to ensure carbon management technologies can achieve their full greenhouse gas emissions reductions potential, as outlined in this new report.  Today’s report makes clear – there is still much work to be done – with current  policies around the world resulting in a projected global temperature increase of 3.2˚C.  Keeping 1.5 ˚C within reach will require rapidly accelerated deployment of a full suite of low-, zero- and increasingly, net-negative emissions strategies, including carbon capture, removal, and reuse. 

“There should be no doubt or confusion about carbon management technologies as an effective climate change mitigation tool. These essential technologies are necessary piece of a broad portfolio of strategies to reduce carbon emissions and address climate change while ensuring reliable, affordable power generation and materials that sustain the needs of our economy in the decades to come. With each working group report, the IPCC has only become clearer on the role these technologies must play in mitigating greenhouse gases – and with 2030 fast approaching – it’s time to act and deploy these solutions responsibly, efficiently, and with urgency.”  

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Convened by the Great Plains Institute, the Carbon Capture Coalition is a nonpartisan collaboration of more than 100 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.