What if we could easily capture carbon dioxide from combined heat and power plants and industrial sites, cool it to liquid form and then bury it a few thousand metres below the seabed off the coasts of Norway or southern Sweden? A utopian idea – or an important part of the solution to the climate crisis?
Lina Lefstad, a PhD student at LUCSUS (Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies), is one of those who is looking into this very question.
"Since the Paris Agreement set the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, this method has become very relevant. It was already tested in the 1970s, but for a completely different reason – back then, carbon dioxide was injected into gas reservoirs to maintain pressure and extract more gas from the field," says Lina Lefstad.
Today, researchers, companies and governments are working hard to revive and develop the technology, known as carbon capture and storage (CCS). Time is of the essence: carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are reaching record highs, accelerating global warming. Meanwhile, many countries are turning to this method of capturing and storing carbon dioxide to help them meet their climate commitments. The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) includes different CCS methods in most of its future scenarios.
Fossil industry: Part of the problem - and part of the solution?
The paradox is that the leading expertise in CCS lies within the fossil fuel industry, which has always specialised in drilling underground. Does CCS mean that companies that have contributed to the climate crisis by extracting oil and gas can now profit from storing carbon?
When Lina Lefstad started her PhD three years ago, she was very sceptical.
"The fossil fuel industry has the infrastructure, and they have empty oil and gas fields that can be filled with carbon dioxide. They're used to working with unstable geological conditions and could make money out of it. There's a risk that CCS could become a lifeline for the continued use of fossil fuels – far from a real solution to the climate crisis," she says.
That risk remains. But now, after three years of research into how CCS can be used in a sustainable way, she feels she has widened her perspective.
"We need to start using CCS"
"We can't afford to waste any more time debating whether it's a good option or not. We need to start using CCS to see how it works in practice and what the costs are. If it turns out to be a bad idea, we have to abandon it quickly and move on to something else.
Lina Lefstad highlights the three main technical challenges of the process:
• Energy consumption: Capturing carbon dioxide is energy intensive and can lead to air pollution, high water consumption and rising electricity prices.
• Risky transport: Carbon dioxide is cooled and compressed into liquid form, then transported through pipelines. The problem is that carbon dioxide is invisible and odourless, and in concentrated form – if leaked – can suffocate people and animals nearby.
• Storage: To have a positive impact on climate change, carbon dioxide needs to be stored for at least a thousand years, which is a major technical challenge. So far, the potential has been explored off the coasts of Norway and Denmark, and studies are underway in the south-east Baltic Sea and off south-west Skåne. Storage capacity is also uncertain - in one case, a site designed to last 20 years was full after just 18 months.
From oil drilling to climate research
Lina Lefstad explores how CCS can help limit climate change from a global justice perspective. While the process has the potential to reduce emissions, a key question is: who benefits? The countries best placed to use CCS are those with a well-developed fossil fuel industry – raising the fundamental question of whether the 'polluters' should now benefit from solving the problem.
"On the other hand, if the fossil industry isn't allowed to work on it, we risk losing the opportunity to deploy the technology. That's something I'm exploring in my current research. CCS is also highly relevant to the EU's plan for a clean industrial transition away from fossil fuels."
It may seem paradoxical that Lina Lefstad is fighting for a fossil-free society, given that her father spent his career in the oil industry and was a sought-after expert on offshore drilling. Her father has since passed away, but it turns out that her career path isn't so far removed from his.
Lina explains that he worked to improve conditions in the high-risk environment of oil rigs – and over time became disillusioned with the wider impact of the industry.
"I think he would have found my research exciting. In a way, it feels like I'm picking up where he left off. It's about contributing something new – for the future."