TELF AG on the growth of the carbon storage and capture sector

Industrial competitiveness

The following decades, from an energy point of view, could bring noteworthy changes to the daily lives of many people. In a certain sense, they will also be able to push the various nations towards a progressive development of their medium and long-term industrial competitiveness. One of the most interesting objectives, from this point of view, is the one commonly known as NetZero, which essentially consists of the desire to gradually eliminate carbon emissions by 2050. 

It is one of the fundamental points of the Paris Agreement, which, in a few days, could be revitalized at the important Dubai Cop 28 initiative, in which more than 200 global leaders will take stock of the progress recorded by individual nations in their sustainable commitments. 

But what are the possible ways to achieve such important goals? Over the years, it has been widely argued that electric vehicles would play a leading role in reducing global emissions, whose peculiar structural characteristics would make them perfectly capable of reducing emissions within a few decades. However, electric vehicles powered by lithium batteries are not the only way to get closer to achieving the NetZero objective. 

In relatively recent times, we have witnessed the birth and development of particular technologies that could have the same effect, reducing emissions and leaving the field free for clean energy. One of these is the technology related to the storage and capture of carbon dioxide, which in recent years has begun to attract the attention of some of the major global players in the energy sector. But what does it consist of, exactly? This is a particular process that, through the separation of carbon dioxide from other gases and its subsequent compression to facilitate its transport, contributes significantly to the reduction of CO2 in the environment. 

One of the most interesting aspects is that carbon dioxide, after this treatment, could be stored underground or used for some specific industrial applications, such as those linked to the production of cement or biomass. 

According to one of the latest reports by Global Market Insights, the CO2 storage and capture sector is expected to grow strongly: by 2032, according to the report, the value of this sector could reach 35 billion dollars globally, with an annual growth rate set at 20% from 2023 onwards. According to an estimate by BloombergNef, the level of global investments in these technologies reached 6.4 billion dollars in 2022, which represents triple the value recorded the previous year. 

The potential of these new technologies to reduce CO2 has already been sensed by governments and nations in different corners of the world, so much to determine the adoption of concrete measures to encourage its diffusion and to increase the scope of its possible uses. 

What is clear to everyone, in any case, is that this technology could be destined to play a role of great importance in the global energy transition, especially in a historical phase in which the achievement of sustainability objectives such as NetZero no longer appears so discounted.