To make good economic decisions, economic actors need to know their objectives and the cost and benefits of activities that are aimed at meeting their objectives. Net zero (zero CO2 carbon emissions into the atmosphere) by 2050 seems to be gaining global traction as an objective, but how to achieve that objective has been the subject of much speculation. The most serious scenarios suggest that significant levels of carbon capture and sequestration will be needed to meet the ambitious CO2 emission reduction targets set. What such carbon capture and sequestration (or storage) emission reductions will cost from various stationary emitting sources is the main subject of this chapter. This survey considers an extensive number of surveys and studies in the last two decades, considering costs along the supply chain: capture, transport, and storage. There seems to be general agreement that for some activities—for example, ethanol, ammonia, fertilizer production, natural gas processing, and some technologies to produce hydrogen—capture cost is less than $40/ton and, in some cases, may be as low as $15/ton. For power generation and other heavy industries, costs are thought to be above $40/ton, with a wider range of uncertainty (in some cases, up to $100/ton or more). Transport costs are probably the best costs understood along the supply chain. They, of course, vary by distance and capacity, but at commercial scales, onshore pipeline transport at distances less than 100 km is likely to be less than $2/ton. Further, storage at scale will require vast underground capacity. Considerable effort has been expended on evaluating CO2 sources and sinks, and a summary of the most extensive databases found and issues related to storage are also included. Evidence to date suggests that storage space is plentiful, but the cost is quite uncertain.
ISBN for host publication: 978-0-323-95941-4;