A new technology roadmap on Carbon Capture and Storage in Industrial Applications, released today in Beijing by IEA and Unido, shows that carbon capture and storage (CCS) has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions from industrial applications by 4 gigatonnes in 2050. Such an amount is equal to roughly one-tenth of the total emission cuts needed from the energy sector by the middle of the century. This requires a rapid deployment of CCS technologies in various industrial sectors, and across both OECD and non-OECD countries. The roadmap, a joint report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), says that over 1800 industrial-scale projects are required over the next 40 years.

The IEA estimates that CCS will play an important role as part of a cost-effective portfolio of solutions to combat climate change.

While attention often focuses on CCS in electricity production, promising short-term potential lies in industrial applications such as in gas processing, as the CO2 will have to be separated in any case to allow the gas to be sold in the markets. In the long term, about half of global economic potential for CCS by 2050 will be in industrial applications, according to IEA.