Biden Administration Announces $2.3 Billion Investments to Tackle Carbon Pollution
The US Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced more than $2.3 billion in funding for three initiatives aimed at advancing diverse carbon management approaches that reduce CO2 pollution, address climate change impacts, and create good-paying jobs while focusing on community engagement and environmental justice.
The first is a $2.25 billion Notice of Intent (NOI) funded by the President's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to speed up geologic carbon storage projects that can store at least 50 million metric tonnes of CO2 for at least 50 years. That's about 10 million gasoline-powered cars each year.
In addition, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced two funding opportunities totalling $91 million to expand the number of CO2 storage sites and enhance important carbon management technologies. Expanding commercial CO2 storage capacity and other industries will help President Biden reach his goal of making the transition to a net-zero economy by 2050 more equitable.
Jennifer M. Granholm, U.S. Secretary of Emergy, said:
"This past month we saw the highest levels of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere in history, underscoring the fact that our efforts to tackle climate change will be inconsequential if we don’t act now to manage the greenhouse gas emissions that are currently putting public health and our environment at risk."
"The President’s budget commitments coupled with the investments from his Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will enable the U.S. to develop cutting-edge technologies to safely and efficiently capture, remove, and store CO2 while revitalising communities that have powered this nation for generations.”
Over the last several decades, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, of which CO2 is the principal component, have risen substantially. GHGs contribute to global warming, raising the risk of droughts and floods and jeopardising our agriculture, health, and water supplies. Enabling the development of a range of carbon management options can aid in the reduction of GHG emissions and the mitigation of their climate change impacts.
Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) pathways, such as direct air capture and storage, remove CO2 pollution from the atmosphere directly to reduce CO2 concentrations and minimise climate change impacts. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) devices absorb and store CO2 produced by point sources such as power stations and industrial sites, reducing CO2 emissions. CCS and CDR have the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by hundreds of millions of tonnes per year.
Source: ENERGY.GOV
