The US released around 5.5 billion metric tonnes of CO₂ in 2021. Credit: petrmalinak via Shutterstock.
The US Department of Energy has announced plans to invest $251m in infrastructure projects to reduce CO₂ emissions from power generation and industrial operations.
Under the US President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the capital will support 12 projects across seven states.
The projects are aimed at capturing, transporting, and converting or permanently storing CO₂ to help tackle climate change.
Nine projects will receive combined funding of $242m to advance large-scale carbon storage initiatives, enabling them to securely store 50 million metric tonnes (mmt) or more of CO₂.
Citing the Environmental Protection Agency, AP reported that the US released around 5.5 billion metric tonnes of CO₂ in 2021.
The remaining funding will go towards three projects that will study transportation methods for captured CO₂ from power plants, ethanol facilities, and industrial sites to locations where it can be used for long-lasting products or stored permanently.
Oil giant bp and several universities are among the awardees.
bp has received $33.41m for two commercial-scale storage sites along the Texas Gulf Coast with the capacity to store up to 15mmt of CO₂ annually.
US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said: “Thanks to historic clean energy investments, DOE is building out the infrastructure needed to slash harmful carbon pollution from industry and the power sector, revitalise local economies, and unlock enormous public health benefits.”
In a separate development, UK’s North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) awarded 20 carbon storage licences at offshore sites to 12 companies.
Share this article