Advancing CCU Technologies Pursuant to the SDGs: A Challenge for Policy Making

Abstract

The implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is indispensable for building a sustainable and just future for all humans and our planet. The SDGs are global goals. However, their implementation equally calls for action by a variety of actors in government, business, and civil society. Thus, policy making as well as industrial innovation efforts need to be designed to facilitate rather than hinder the implementation of the SDGs. Consequently, it is necessary to ensure that the possible environmental, economic, and societal impacts of technological innovations aiming for public support and funding in research, development, and market implementation are aligned with the respective objectives of the SDGs. Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) applications are an example of such innovations. By capturing and utilizing CO 2 , they are intended to have positive impacts on economy, society, and environment. Next to industries' own efforts to advance such technologies, CCU is currently funded by governments in several countries, and such funding is likely to increase. Therefore, an assessment of the compatibility of CCU technologies with the SDGs is as much necessary as it is overdue. Hence, this paper elucidates on how CCU might contribute to or hinder the delivery of the SDGs. By comparing CCUs against the SDGs, it can be concluded that, under certain conditions, they might deliver contributions to several SDGs. The main contributions are expected within the context of energy transition processes, and in societal advancements that are linked to technological progress. For eight out of the seventeen SDGs, positive and indirect negative effects can be predicted. Therefore, the development and implementation of CCU aligned with the SDGs poses a challenge for policy makers when designing frameworks and funding schemes. Specific risks need to be monitored and considered in policy making. This paper therefore argues that the SDGs should be used as a framework for assessing potential societal effects of CCU technologies. The findings demonstrate that such an approach is necessary in order to identify and enhance the positive (and avoid indirect negative) effects that CCU technologies might have on people, prosperity and planet.

Spiers Memorial Lecture: CO2 utilization: why, why now, and how?

“…115,116 Additionally, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are a suitable existing framework to assess the societal implications of CDU. 117 Support for launching new industries in the form of procurement incentives or requirements has helped in the past, e.g., renewable portfolio standards for the solar energy eld. Developing state procurement policies like the Low Embodied Carbon Concrete Leadership Act (LECCLA), which is currently being considered in the New York State and New Jersey legislatures, and Buy Clean California are examples that could help drive demand and build capacity for CDU products.…”

Methods for Analysing Steering Effects of Global Goals

“…Additional to tracking the process, there are tools to understand goal interactions and interlinkages. For example, the SDG Synergies tool (https://www.sdgsynergies.org) focuses on interactions and interlinkages based on expert opinions and network analysis (Nilsson, Griggs and Visbeck 2016;Weitz et al 2018); the SDG Impact Assessment Tool (https:// sdgimpactassessmenttool.org) elicits the knowledge of users to qualify impacts and interactions (Johnsson et al 2020;Olfe-Kräutlein 2020). Increasingly, commercial tools have also been developed for corporations align their activities to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.…”

Circular Carbon Economy (CCE): A Way to Invest CO2 and Protect the Environment, a Review

“…It is then transported through pipes, until it is injected underground for geological storage, to isolate it for the long term from the atmosphere. It can also be utilised to create new products from CO 2 [41][42][43][44][45][46]. When implementing a CCUS, it must look at the aspects on which it depends, including absorptivity, infrastructure, capacity, costs, especially the costs of technology transfer and localisation in developing countries.…”

“…Carbon dioxide capture could reduce the wholesale price of electricity by 15 percent in 2030, according to the analysis of a study in the Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA). Carbon dioxide capture and storage could also provide many employment opportunities through the construction of CCS power plants, operating, maintenance, and associated supply chain functions [43]. Several carbon storage technologies will be mentioned in the coming sections.…”