Carbon dioxide capture: an assessment of plausible ranges

The projections of energy related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) serve as point of departure for an assessment of plausible ranges of CO2 emissions that could be avoided through CO2 capture and storage measures. Scenario and time dependent, sector and fuel specific capture factors are developed for eleven world regions to estimate the proportion of CO2 resulting from fossil fuel and biomass combustion/ conversion that might be practical to capture and store. The capture factors are applied to the original CO2 emissions scenarios at a highly disaggregated level. The results are summed up and presented. The results indicate that it might be possible to capture and store a significant quantity of energy related CO2, especially in the second quarter of this century. Yet the amounts of CO2 still being emitted remain considerable, suggesting that other technologies will also be needed if the threat of climate change requires large reductions of CO2 emissions over the next few decades.