{"id":52179,"date":"2025-05-19T07:10:47","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T19:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?p=52179"},"modified":"2025-05-19T07:12:27","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T19:12:27","slug":"great-carbon-capture-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/great-carbon-capture-scam\/","title":{"rendered":"The great carbon capture scam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Carbon capture has always been a fossil fuel industry scam, designed to distract and delay critical measures to cut emissions by phasing out coal, oil, and gas. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Rex Weyler lays it out.<\/p>\n\n

We know that oil companies hid knowledge of global heating for decades<\/a>, but the captains of petroleum also schemed to turn the ecological crisis into a profit centre. The industry devised a plan to swindle money from the public purse by pretending to address the climate issue while using subsidies to increase oil production. If one had no moral compass, one might say their scam was a stroke of genius.<\/p>\n\n

Since the oil industry \u2014 Shell, Chevron, and others \u2014 were not prepared to actually slow oil production to halt global heating, and since they had no intention of aiming for zero carbon emissions, they invented \u201cnet zero.\u201d The \u201cnet\u201d requires that we subtract some carbon from total emissions to create the illusion of \u201czero\u201d emissions. Thus, the patriarchs of petroleum profiteering came up with \u201ccarbon capture,\u201d a deception that has netted them billions of dollars and euros in public money. <\/p>\n\n

Even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has enabled the scam, since most IPCC climate models<\/a> require carbon capture and storage (CCS) to balance the carbon books, always of course, at some time in the distant future. <\/p>\n\n

\"The
A thick layer of smog hovers above the ground while smoke continues to pour out of the smoke stacks at the oil refinery. \u00a9 Greenpeace \/ Colin O’Connor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

How the Carbon Capture scam works<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

Oil industry geologists knew in the 1950s that all oil fields would deplete over time, as pressure dropped in rock formations and the oil would no longer flow. They developed certain \u201cenhanced oil recovery\u201d technologies to extend the life of depleted oil fields, by fracking and by pumping carbon dioxide (CO2<\/sub>) into old wells. However, these technologies were expensive and reduced their gargantuan profit margins. Furthermore, by 1965, even the American Petroleum Institute had anticipated the \u201ccatastrophic consequences\u201d of carbon dioxide emissions<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

Thus the Great Carbon Capture Scam was born. <\/p>\n\n

Industry insiders publicly claimed that they could capture and store the dangerous CO2<\/sub>, using public money of course, while secretly planning to use this captured CO2<\/sub> for enhanced oil recovery, which would create more carbon emissions. It might take decades for the public to figure out that they had been filched. <\/p>\n\n

In 1948, Chevron discovered a promising field in Scurry County, Texas, which showed signs of depletion by 1951. In 1972, they began the world\u2019s first CCS project, using waste carbon dioxide from a gas field 400 kilometers away, near the Mexican border, shipping it north through a pipeline, and using the gas to extend the life of their Scurry field. After using the CO2<\/sub>, they vented the gas, so there was no real climate advantage. However, the technology worked to produce more oil.<\/p>\n\n

Since the companies intended to use captured CO2<\/sub> for enhanced oil recovery, the technology was then called \u201cCarbon Capture, Use, and Storage,\u201d (CCUS). In 1992, international oil companies held the first CCUS conference in the Netherlands. <\/p>\n\n

In 1998 Chevron, Exxon-Mobil, Shell, and the Australian government began promoting carbon capture<\/a> and use for the huge Gorgon gas field in Australia that had two public relations problems: It was in a nature reserve and it produced a relatively dirty, climate-wrecking gas with 14% carbon dioxide waste. Since the carbon had to be captured anyway, to meet export regulations, the oil companies lobbied to have Australian citizens pay for it. <\/p>\n\n

Chevron and their partners received a $60-million grant from the Australian government, and in 2003 Chevron claimed<\/a> that CCUS was \u201ca vital technology to ensure a safe, reliable supply of energy to meet the world\u2019s needs.\u201d Meanwhile, an API promotional campaign confirmed<\/a> that CCS was primarily used to \u201cenhance oil production.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

In Australia, the companies promised to capture millions of tonnes of carbon, beginning in 2016, but for the first four years they captured none, and in 2019 the Gorgon CCUS project clogged up with sand<\/a> and had to shut down for repairs.<\/p>\n\n

To date, Gorgon has captured about 30% of its target for \u201cprocessing emissions,\u201d but this term hides the fact that the companies have only captured about 2%<\/a> of the target for total emissions. However, the one thing that Chevron did capture and store was 100% of the $60 million in public hand-outs. \u201cManaging greenhouse gas emissions,\u201d Chevron declared<\/a>, \u201cis an integral part of how Chevron plans and executes its business.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

The corporate strategy appears to be: Socialize costs and privatize profits. However, carbon capture added an additional strategy: Socialize risk. Since carbon emissions would accelerate global heating, and since the hydrogen produced is highly explosive, the companies faced severe liability risks. No problem: In Australia, Chevron and Shell convinced the government, the taxpayers, to accept liability for the hazardous Gorgon project<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

The swindle appears simple: Pretend to help solve a problem, while making the problem worse, socialize the costs and liabilities, and privatize the profits. Clever. However, the unscrupulous scheme began to show signs of unravelling.<\/p>\n\n

\"Carbon
Flare stack at oil refinery in Immingham, UK \u00a9 Les Gibbon \/ Greenpeace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Red herrings and red flags<\/strong> over carbon capture<\/h2>\n\n

In 2006, the German Federal Ministry of the Environment determined<\/a> that there was \u201cno direct cost advantage for technologies using fossil fuels [i.e. carbon capture] \u2026 compared to advanced renewable energy technologies,\u201d and a year later, the Australian Environmental Protection Agency recommended<\/a> that the Gorgon project should not proceed due to environmental risks. <\/p>\n\n

EnergyWashington Week<\/em> revealed, as reported by Oil Change International<\/a> and the US Environmental Protection Agency<\/a>, that \u201cA power plant equipped with a CCS system \u2026 would need roughly 10 to 40% more energy than a plant of equivalent output without CCS.\u201d More energy consumption yields more CO2<\/sub> emissions, not less. These warnings and recommendations were ignored.<\/p>\n\n

The American Petroleum Institute continued to promote carbon capture, although their own consultant report on \u201cCarbon Dioxide Enhanced Oil Recovery\u201d<\/a> warned that \u201cthe amount of infrastructure necessary to perform geologic storage on a meaningful level is equivalent to the existing worldwide infrastructure associated with current oil and gas production.\u201d To reverse global heating, CCUS would require doubling the world\u2019s petroleum infrastructure, built up over the previous century, a near impossibility with costs running into the trillions. Furthermore, that infrastructure would require massive mining, transport of materials, cement, steel, and carbon-intensive fabrication, yielding more emissions.<\/p>\n\n

In 2007, as these nagging problems surfaced, BP scrapped a \u00a3500-million carbon capture scheme in Scotland. In the US, a \u201cclean coal\u201d CCS project in Mississippi, behind schedule and billions over budget, closed, and the Petra Nova CCS plant in Texas\u2014promising to capture 1.6 million tonnes of CO2 annually\u2014missed its targets over three years of operation and shut down in 2020. The Carbon Capture and Sequestration Technologies program at MIT closed<\/a> due to the technology\u2019s ecological damage and unviable economics in 2016. By the end of 2020, more than 80% of US CCUS projects had failed<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Meanwhile, Western Australia\u2019s Environmental Protection Authority concluded<\/a> in 2019 that Chevron should be held accountable for venting gas from the Gorgon project and for failing to capture and store the project\u2019s emissions as promised and required.<\/p>\n\n

Thequest for dollars<\/strong> is a big driver of the carbon capture fantasy<\/h2>\n\n

According to a January 2022 study by Global Witness<\/a>, Shell\u2019s Quest plant in Canada\u2019s tar sands, is emitting more carbon than it is capturing, with the same annual carbon footprint as 1.2 million gas-powered vehicles. Shell\u2019s scheme, one of the biggest boondoggles of carbon capture chicanery, uses the hydrogen produced to refine thick, toxic bitumen into synthetic crude, creating more carbon emissions. The project also emits methane, a much more potent greenhouse gas.<\/p>\n\n

Global Witness found that although Shell\u2019s Quest plant was capturing 4.81-million tonnes of carbon annually (Mt\/yr), it was emitting 12.47 Mt\/yr in greenhouse gases from on-site and supply chain emissions and from the power required to operate the CCS system. The plant therefore annually is responsible for  some 7.66-million tonnes of greenhouse gases, even after the CCUS bookkeeping tricks.<\/p>\n\n

Shell originally promised to capture 90% of emissions, had to admit failure, and changed their target to 65%, but according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis<\/a>, the Quest plant failed to reach its target every year from 2015 to 2020.<\/p>\n\n

Upon awarding the Quest project a Canadian-dollar $834-million subsidy (US$654-million, \u20ac571-million) Canada\u2019s Ministry of Natural Resources Joanna Sivasankaran claimed<\/a> that CCS was \u201can important tool on the pathway to reaching Canada\u2019s ambitious climate goals,\u201d to reach \u201cnet-zero by 2050.\u201d However, since the Quest project emits more than it captures and increases tar sands production, the dirtiest, most carbon-intensive petroleum product on Earth, these \u201cambitious climate goals,\u201d remain unattainable and appear preposterous.<\/p>\n\n

Four hundred international scientists, academics, and energy analysts signed a letter<\/a> to the Canadian government asking that they halt the subsidy scam. \u201cDeploying CCUS at any climate-relevant scale,\u201d they wrote, \u201ccarried out within the short timeframe we have to avert climate catastrophe without posing substantial risks to communities on the front lines of the buildout, is a pipe dream.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

The letter warned that CCUS is \u201cnot a negative emissions technology,\u201d with billions of taxpayer dollars used to boost oil production. The scientists and scholars warned of the health impacts to local communities, that the tax subsidies would tie Canada to \u201cdependence on dirty tar sands,\u201d and that the project would add some 50 million metric tons CO2<\/sub> emissions annually by 2035.<\/p>\n\n

According to Lubicon Cree citizen Melina Laboucan-Massimo<\/a>, the tar sands project yields \u201celevated rates of cancers, as well as elevated rates of respiratory illnesses \u2026 contamination to the water, destruction and complete fragmentation of the Boreal forest.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

According to Reuters<\/a>, 26 commercial CCS facilities around the world capture about 40 million tonnes of CO2<\/sub> each year. To put that in perspective, the world emits about 36.4-billion tonnes of CO2 each year<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

That means that after 50 years of CCS development; after billions of dollars in subsidies; after all the hype, deceits, tax breaks, and guarantees; the oil industry captures about 0.1% of annual CO2<\/sub> emissions. The other 99.9 % pollutes the atmosphere and heats Earth. Meanwhile, most of this captured CO2<\/sub> is used to produce more oil. Since that first CCS project began in 1972, world CO2<\/sub> emissions have almost tripled from 14.68 to 36.4 billion tonnes per year, not exactly the \u201cnet zero\u201d we were promised.<\/p>\n\n

Carbon capture was a scam from the beginning, and remains so today. <\/p>\n\n

\"Projection
Greenpeace Italy activists have shown leaders of the world\u2019s largest economies that compensatory scams are the new climate denial and have dangerous consequences. A large screen shows some videos explaining how the practice of greenwashing hides reality. The key message is: \u201cwe need REAL climate action NOW\u201d. \u00a9 Greenpeace \/ Lorenzo Moscia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
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