“This letter adds to the unprecedented global momentum for a full, fast, fair, and funded fossil fuel phaseout. People from around the world are joining over 100 countries that have now called for an end to oil, gas, and coal," said Elizabeth Bast.

Illustration by Pawel Kuczynski
Many of the largest CCS projects in the world overpromise and under-deliver, operating far below capacity.
An analysis by OCI of six of the leading CCS plants in the US, Australia, and the Middle East reveals that they are all either operating significantly below capacity, ranging from an estimated 10 to 60% capacity, or are designed only to capture a fraction of the emissions produced by the facilities they are attached to. In some cases, it is both.
Underperformance is the norm
Today, the total installed capacity of carbon capture projects operating worldwide is stated to be 49.7 million metric

Today at COP28, Total CEO Patrick Pouyanné said that the international oil major would call for the release of imprisoned Ugandan StopEACOP activists.

COP28 has the potential to be an historic moment in confronting the climate crisis. The COP28 Presidency has an opportunity to secure a transformational negotiated outcome, if it secures a robust negotiated energy package, including an unambiguous agreement to end all new oil and gas expansion, a clear call to equitably and rapidly phase out all fossil fuels, and a commitment to triple deployment of nature-positive and community-beneficial renewable energy and double energy efficiency.

As the U.S. government arrives in Dubai for the UNFCCC COP28 climate summit, frontline communities, youth, and civil society are planning to confront the Biden-Harris administration’s oil and gas expansion and urging a rapid fossil fuel phaseout. 

Governments have spent over $20 billion – and have approved up to $200 billion more – of public money on carbon capture and storage (CCS), providing a lifeline for the fossil fuel industry. Almost 80% of operating carbon capture capacity globally sends captured CO2 to produce more oil via Enhanced Oil Recovery, while many of the world's largest CCS projects overpromise and underdeliver.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 29, 2023

As the United Nations Climate Change Conference begins today, Oil Change International revealed the failure of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in Carbon Capture's Publicly Funded Failure. CCS has a 50 year track record of over-promising and under-delivering, and every investment in CCS provides a lifeline to the fossil fuel industry.

Key findings: 

Governments have spent over $20 billion – and are planning up to $200 billion more – of public money on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), providing a lifeline for the fossil fuel industry.
The majority of CCS is used to expand fossil fuel extraction.

As the UN climate talks begin, fossil fuel phase out and an agreement to triple renewable energy and double energy efficiency are top of the agenda. To limit warming to 1.5°C, fossil fuel phase out targets established by the International Energy Agency and IPCC must be deployed alongside renewable energy and energy efficiency targets, which are all achievable at COP28. 

Read our overview of expectations and themes at COP28. 
New data on Carbon Capture and Storage Technologies:
Oil Change International is publishing a new resource on Carbon Capture and Storage technologies today, that includes the latest data and case studies on the fossil

As we drove by the long chain of refineries and other petrochemical facilities that surround the small town of Port Arthur, Texas, noxious fumes wafted into our truck. The residents of Port Arthur, Groves and towns along the Gulf Coast are forced to inhale polluted air day in and day out. 

“Smell that? To some people it smells like money, but it’s death to us,” said John Beard III of the Port Arthur Community Action Network. “That’s the smell of death.” 

Colleagues from Friends of the Earth Japan and I traveled to Texas and Louisiana in early November for a week-long tour,

They are calling it the largest civil disobedience climate protest in the history of Australia. This weekend, thousands of activists, young and old, from across the country descended on the world’s largest coal port at Muloobinba (Newcastle), on Awabakal and Worimi land and water.