Cost-effective technologies to reduce emissions from existing energy and industrial infrastructure could play an important role in achieving stabilization targets for CO₂e emissions. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies are a set of potentially viable options for mitigating CO₂e from power plants if costs come down.
Current global emissions from the energy sector are 30 billion tons of CO₂e annually, or 60% of anthropogenic emissions, and projected to grow by 20%. Low-carbon energy infrastructure is critical to reduce emissions and avoid dangerous climate change. A modern fossil-fuel burning power plant outfitted with CCS capability could achieve as much as 80% to 90% reduction in CO₂e emissions compared to a plant without CCS, according to the IPCC.
The cost of CCS is currently high and remains prohibitive without incentive measures. This cost is largely associated with additional energy requirements to operate the CCS system. Adding CCS capabilities to a coal-fired power plant would increase the fuel needs by 25% to 40% according to the IPCC. An ideally sited new-build coal plant with the technology would add 1.8 to 3.4 cents per kWh over the base cost of 0.9 to 2.2 cents per kWh for a plant without the capture and storage capability. Policy measures to support adoption include direct measures such as tax incentives for CCS or indirect measures such as a price on carbon. A direct incentive program would have to consider tradeoffs between funding for other available mitigation technologies.