Thread by @CJAOurPower

It’s time to abandon the dirty, dangerous myth of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS):
💥Stop subsidizing CCS.
💥Stop permitting CCS.
💥Stop using CCS to justify climate inaction.

And don’t pretend you’re a climate leader if CCS is part of your climate plan.
climatejusticealliance.org/cja-calls-to-e…

On behalf of our millions of members and supporters across the US & Canada, we call on policymakers to recognize that carbon capture and storage (CCS) is NOT a climate solution. It is a dangerous distraction driven by the same big polluters who created the #ClimateEmergency.

CCS is unnecessary. Renewable energy sources like solar and wind are cheaper and cleaner than fossil fuels. CCS just makes dirty energy more expensive and more energy-intensive.

CCS does not work. CCS projects have systematically overpromised and underdelivered. Despite the billions of taxpayer dollars wasted on CCS to date, the technology has not made a dent in CO2 emissions.

CCS will do little to reduce industrial emissions. Deploying CCS at scale is not economically viable for most heavy-emitting industries, such as plastic or chemical manufacturing.

It diverts resources from available and scalable alternatives such as replacing fossil fuels with clean renewable energy sources to supply power and heat, and reusing inputs to reduce the production of virgin material.

CCS makes dirty energy even more dangerous for frontline communities. Facilities equipped with carbon capture technology have to burn more #fossilfuel to get the same energy output, resulting in increased emissions of toxic & hazardous pollutants, like fine particulates (PM2.5).

CCS imposes even more risks on communities from CO2 pipelines & storage. Transporting, injecting, and storing CO2 presents new environmental, health, and safety hazards in communities targeted for CCS infrastructure.

Pipelines can leak or rupture, and injection can contaminate water sources. These risks fall disproportionately on Black, Brown, Indigenous, and low-income communities, further entrenching a bleak history of #EnvironmentalRacism.

Most CCS benefits polluters. Nearly 80% of captured carbon is used to pump more oil out of the ground through “enhanced oil recovery.”
Polluting industries are using the myth of CCS to justify business-as-usual operations that are dangerous for the climate and communities.

Pumping even more public funds into new CCS subsidies for #fossilfuel and petrochemical industries will just prop up unsustainable business models.

We don’t need to fix fossil fuels; we need to ditch them. Instead of capturing carbon to pump it back underground, we should keep fossil fuels in the ground in the first place.

Instead of bankrolling CCS, funds should be boosting sustainable, job-creating solutions to the #ClimateCrisis: phasing out oil, gas & coal; investing in energy efficiency & renewable energy sources; & protecting forests and other ecosystems that naturally capture & store carbon.