Carbon Capture Coalition issues first-ever blueprint for federal investment

The Carbon Capture Coalition, a national collection of industry, labor and environmental organizations, recently issued the first-ever national policy blueprint for federal carbon capture policies, calling for greater investment, incentives and research and development efforts.

“Last year’s bipartisan reform of the federal Section 45Q tax credit marked a foundational first step in fostering continued growth of the American carbon capture industry,” Brad Crabtree, Carbon Capture Coalition co-director, said. “Now, Carbon Capture Coalition participants have crafted this Blueprint to outline additional federal policies needed going forward to build on the 45Q tax credit and further expand commercial deployment of technologies that will deliver environmental, energy and jobs benefits for our entire nation.”

In all, more than 60 organizations have joined the coalition and reached a joint consensus on the issue. In their blueprint, they pushed for guarantees that the 45Q would be implemented by the U.S. Treasury, which they believe will provide greater certainty for the market. They also urged the federal government to provide incentives to expand upon 45Q’s efforts in project financing, incorporation of carbon capture efforts into the broader national infrastructure policy and the expansion of funding for R&D, demonstration and deployment of new technologies in this area.

“Federal and state policies have succeeded in helping to scale up wind, solar and other low and zero-carbon energy technologies in the marketplace. Carbon capture needs a similarly comprehensive and ambitious suite of policy tools and incentives to achieve economy-wide deployment in the next decade,” Crabtree said.

The coalition wants to see such deployment reached by 2030. In so doing, the groups believe more jobs could be created and emissions lowered.