A handful of governments have spent nearly $30 billion in public funds on carbon capture and hydrogen projects, mostly for private fossil fuel companies, over the past 40 years, a new report from Oil Change International finds. National governments are expected to spend an additional $115 billion to $240 billion in the coming decades, the report’s analysis shows. The United States, Norway, Canada and the Netherlands account for the bulk of this public spending, but it’s largely private companies that benefit. Around 83% of the captured CO2 is used for enhanced oil recovery, in which industrially compressed carbon is injected underground to extract more oil. Currently, 41 commercial carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects are operating worldwide; the majority are managed by fossil fuel companies, such as ExxonMobil and Shell. “Oil is the most profitable industry in the world, and the idea that we should be propping it up with public money is just plain ridiculous,” Lorne Stockman, the report’s lead author, told Mongabay by phone. “It shows the incredible influence that this industry has over our policy making and over our politicians, and it needs to stop.” Intense lobbying efforts have helped keep CCS funding flowing, despite criticism about its effectiveness as a solution to climate change. At least 475 lobbyists supporting CCS were identified at COP28, outnumbering the 316 Indigenous representatives present, a survey found. Global CCS capacity is estimated at 65 million tons, 0.15% of 2023 emissions. But real figures are significantly less, as existing projects…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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