Energy secretary calls for removing gigatons of carbon pollution directly from the air

The Department of Energy announced a new “earthshot” initiative Friday aimed at scaling up the technology to remove gigatons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in support of President Joe Biden’s goal of cutting emissions 50% by 2030.

The initiative, dubbed the “Carbon Negative Shot,” is targeting breakthroughs to enable the removal and storage of carbon dioxide for less than $100 per ton, much cheaper than technology allows now.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm detailed the initiative at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow on Friday, saying that beyond proven clean energy technologies that can currently be deployed affordably and at scale, other technological advancements must be made.

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“We know that we do have to make some technological breakthroughs to get fully decarbonized,” Granholm said.

“We know that we still have to decarbonize in other ways, but this is, as we say, ‘It’s not a silver bullet. It’s silver buckshot.’ We have to do all of the above,” she added.

Carbon removal technology has been successfully deployed, with the captured gas being sequestered underground or recycled and put into products, but it remains expensive.

At a recently launched direct air capture facility in Iceland, the cost of capturing a metric ton of carbon dioxide is around $600 to $800.

For context, a single ton of carbon dioxide is equivalent to the amount emitted by burning about 1,000 pounds of coal, while a gigaton is equivalent to the emissions of approximately 250 million vehicles driven in a single year.

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The bipartisan infrastructure bill in Congress provides funding for the demonstration of direct air capture technology in the form of $3.5 billion to create four direct air capture “hubs” across the country, while the partisan Build Back Better Act provides for a new tax credit for as much as $180 per ton for projects that remove carbon from the air.

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