Here we feature 5 videos on the scam of Carbon Capture and Storage. The last one is a 2021 webinar from the US from Science experts on Carbon Capture and Storage.

Carbon Capture and Storage is full of spin to justify fossil fuel exploitation. We see this in Chevron’s Gorgon Project in North Western Australia, Santos Moomba project in South Australia, the development of the Darwin Middlearm petrochemical hub to sequester Beetaloo gas and Barossa Gas CO2 emissions in the Northern Territory, and for Victoria’s Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain project for Coal to Hydrogen. The Australian Government is still promoting Carbon Capture and Storage when it has proved a failed technology in full operation at scale.

Carbon Capture and Storage is based on inherently leaky engineering. Fossil fuel companies use it to justify continuing to exploit fossil fuels, often with substantial government subsidies. They often commit to net-zero goals which in reality they are unlikely to meet in practice thus engaging in greenwashing.

In Victoria, Lily D’Ambrosio, Victoria’s climate action and energy minister, said earlier in 2023 regarding Victoria’s Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain project for Coal to Hydrogen: “The money now put on the table by the commercial proponents explicitly won’t go to capturing the project’s carbon or storing it. 100% of that risk … sits with Victorians.”

Video 1: August 2023: The Carbon Capture and Storage Con

3 Aug 2023, Australia Institute: “Let us just say it for what it is: CCS is a scam. It is a scam that has been used by the coal and gas industries to con (usually willing) governments and populations into delaying climate action. Chief Economist at the Australia Insitute Greg Jericho explains.”

Relying on carbon capture and storage to reduce emissions is like trying to empty a swimming pool with a thimble

There’s a lot of talk about carbon capture and storage (CCS).

The Federal Government loves it – Resources Minister Madeleine King called it the “single biggest opportunity for emissions reduction in the energy resources sector”. It sounds like it’s going great in the Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia and, two years ago, it was time to apparently celebrate, “Fifteen years of CCS success in Victoria”.

WOW. So much success!

Back in 2004, The Australia Institute didn’t think CCS would be a goer, but maybe we were wrong?

Well, let’s check the numbers.

According to the Global CCS Institute, at the end of 2022 there were 30 operating CCS projects in the world.

The. Whole. World.

These projects could sequester a grand total of 42.6 million tonnes of CO2 under the ground each year.

If you know your emissions numbers, you know that’s not a lot. As the first graph shows it’s less than a 10th of Australia’s 2022 emissions.

Further Information: Rod Campbell, Australia Institute (26 July 2023) Off the Charts. The Con of Carbon Capture and Storage. https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/the-con-of-carbon-capture-and-storage/

Video 2: August 2021, Honest Government Ad | Carbon Capture & Storage

2 Sept 2021, The Juice Media: “The Australien Government has made an ad about Carbon Capture and Storage, and it’s surprisingly honest and informative.”

👉 SOURCES: Most of the data and research comes from three excellent reports by the Australia Institute:

🔸 “Sunk Costs”: documenting CCS’s failure to meet every, single, target, even those set by the industry. The Conclusion is stone cold brutal. The authors are killers. I love it: https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/P546-Sunk-costs-WEB.pdf

🔸 “Money for Nothing”: focusing in on the Australian government’s experiments with CCS and the eye-watering amounts of $$ that have been sharted away on this bullshit. This shows why CCS is better described as a PR campaign than a technology: https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/P357-Money-for-nothing_0.pdf

🔸 “Gorgon-tuan Problem”: zooming in even further to Australia’s CCS adventures with a closer look at the CCS failfest at Chevron’s Gorgon LNG plant in WA: https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/P635-Gorgon-tuan-Problem-Web.pdf

👉 FURTHER READING:

🔸 “Carbon Capture & Storage Failure | Spin Bin with Angus Taylor” (Video, see below)

🔸 Peter Milne: Time’s up on Gorgon’s five years of carbon storage failurem” https://www.boilingcold.com.au/times-up-on-gorgons-five-years-of-carbon-storage-failure/

🔸 Simon Holmes a Court: “Does best CCS power station in world provide model for Australia?” (May 2017) https://reneweconomy.com.au/does-best-ccs-power-station-in-world-provide-model-for-australia-72476/

🔸 Chris Vanderstock: “The truth about Carbon Capture and Storage” Video (see below)

🔸 Sharon Kelly, “How America’s clean coal dream unravelled” (March 2018) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/02/clean-coal-america-kemper-power-plant

Video 3: August 2021: Carbon Capture & Storage Failure | Spin Bin with Angus Taylor

14 Aug 2021, Australia Institute video: “Despite billions in taxpayer funding over many years, carbon capture and storage has continued to fail every target set for it. However, that hasn’t stopped the fossil fuel industry, and Minister Angus Taylor from continuing to spruik the technology as the solution to reducing emissions. Richie Merzian and Polly Hemming delve deep into what’s gone wrong, and why the Government continues to support this fairytale solution on the latest episode of Spin Bin.”

Video 4: October 2020: The truth about Carbon Capture and Storage | CCSU – garbage or…?

13 Oct 2020: An honest assessment on Carbon capture Use and Storage by Vlogger Chris Vanderstock.

Christopher (Chris) Vanderstock is a father and nursing manager who lives in the suburbs of Melbourne with his partner and children. He is the owner of a fully electric car and runs a YouTube Channel to educate and inform Australians on all things EV, solar power, battery storage, and other emerging technologies.

Video 5: Sept 2021: CARBON CAPTURE & STORAGE: THE FACTS (webinar)

21 Sept 2021, Science and Environmental Health Network (US): A science based review of carbon capture and storage by engineering and health experts.

“Sandra Steingraber, Mark Jacobson, Ted Schettler, and Martha Dina Arguello lay out the facts about carbon capture and storage on Sept. 17, 2021, in a webinar sponsored by the Science & Environmental Health Network (SEHN) and moderated by Carolyn Raffensperger.” The webinar covers:

• The Role of Government in making decisions for the planetary emergency
• The Role of Science in Public Policy
• Enhanced Oil Recovery
• Existing Carbon Capture and storage Operations
• Largest Carbon Capture Plant in the world
• Full Load Capture
• Happens to the Carbon Dioxide after Capture
• Direct Air Capture
• Blue versus Gray Hydrogen
• Hazards and Risks
• Hazardous Air Pollutants
• Health Effects
• Particulate Air Pollution
• Transport of the CO2
• Carbon Dioxide Toxicity
• Hydrogen Sulfide Exposure
• Olfactory Paralysis
• Geomechanical and hydrologic Hazards
• Impacts on Drinking Water Quality
• Potential Health Hazards and Risks
• Direct Air Capture on Carbon
• IS CCS useful for Steel or Heavy Industry?
• Cement