Carbon capture and storage as a strategic reserve against China's CO2 emissions

Abstract

China has experienced economic boom over the last four decades, along with high greenhouse gas emissions because of the extensive application of fossil fuels, especially coal. To mitigate global warming, China, as one of the fastest developing economies, made decisions of peak carbon emissions by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060. These decisions are particularly challenging for China to keep a sustainable economy while reducing carbon emissions by decreasing the use of fossil fuels, where economic growth remains the top priority of society. Energy efficiency, however, is unlikely to improve much due to ceiling effect. Carbon capture and storage (CCS), a technology that prevents CO2 emitted by coal-burning factories from being delivered into the environment, is one of the best options available with large-scale capacity for China to obviously reduce CO2 emissions from factory sectors in short time. This work discussed the potential application of CCS technology to mitigate CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels, particularly coal-fired power plants, in China. We outlined the current CCS technology status, the obstacles and opportunities for application CCS in China, with emphasis on the market mechanisms and possible strategies to promote CCS in China, thus paving the way for China's future CCS policy formulation.