Is CO2 capture and storage the right way for mitigating climate change?

Abstract

A great number of countries have signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) showing, thus, their commitment to solve the carbon dioxide (CO2) issue via various methods including energy efficiency, renewable energies as well as CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS). The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol encourage the Parties to protect and enhance sinks and reservoirs for greenhouse gases including CO2 capture and storage (CCS). However, CCS public acceptance and future implementation require a good scientific knowledge of the environmental consequences of the various storage options including land based and sub-seabed reservoirs and ocean sinks. This is all the more true concerning ocean sinks, which require an in-depth understanding of the effect that a high CO2 concentration in the deep ocean might have on the wider marine environment. This chapter discusses the prospects and consequences of CCS. It presents a comparison of the electricity costs associated to the different methods of CO2 emission reduction. In particular, a comparison is made between the coal and gas power plants with CO2 capture and non-CO2-emission technologies such as nuclear, wind turbine, hydraulic, and solar power. CCS is a viable option to mitigate CO2 emissions. However, even if the cost of CO2 capture becomes fully competitive in the near future, too much rests unknown regarding the sequestration of CO2 including the environmental assessment of long term storage and the international legal framework related to CO2 sequestration.