Capture Rapture | Mechthild Worsdorfer on Net Zero

What role will Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) technologies play in the energy transition context? In this episode, Mechthild Wörsdörfer, Director for Sustainability, Technology and Outlooks at International Energy Agency (IEA), shares her views on the opportunities and challenges arising from CCUS technologies with Net Zero host Joana Freitas.

According to IEA, industry currently accounts for almost 25% of CO2 emissions and 40% of global energy demand. Continued economic growth and urbanization, particularly in developing countries, is expected to drive up the demand for cement, steel and chemicals. In Wörsdörfer’s perspective CCUS is “the only known technology to be able to put these sectors on a pathway to this net zero emissions”. She also sees a role for CCUS in the power generation segment, especially in Asian countries, like China and India, where most of coal power plants are still very young and able to operate for decades: “One of the options here is to retrofit them and put also CCUS on the existing ones to cut the emissions”.

The discussion around CCUS is not new; however, the achievement of the Paris agreement goals and the new net zero ambition for 2050 have been driving a renewed interest in CCUS, particularly in Europe. On the other hand, CCUS deployment is still facing public acceptance issues in some European countries. According to Mechthild Wörsdörfer the use of CCUS does not mean “business as usual for fossil fuels” as, even considering the use of this type of technologies, it is necessary to decrease the use of coal in power generation by 75% in 2040 to achieve the climate goals. CCUS technology “provides a bridge between the reality we are still having right now and certainly the need for urgent emission reduction”.