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Report

Energy & Climate

The Economic Benefits of Carbon Capture: Investment and Employment Estimates for the Contiguous United States

This report is a state-by-state analysis exploring the economic benefits associated with carbon capture retrofit opportunities at existing industrial and electric power facilities.

Carbon capture technology is a viable strategy to move the industrial and power sectors towards decarbonization. Carbon capture is well-positioned to tackle industrial combustion and process emissions from the production of materials, such as steel and cement. In the electric power sector, carbon capture provides a rare opportunity for fossil fuels to play a role in a decarbonized world.

The Great Plains Institute (GPI) commissioned Rhodium Group to conduct an independent analysis exploring the economic benefits associated with carbon capture retrofit opportunities at existing plants in the US. Phase I of this study is a state-by-state analysis focused on opportunities in 21 of the states participating in theĀ Regional Carbon Capture Deployment Initiative. GPI identified the industrial and electric power facilities examined in this phase as carbon capture projects with near- to intermediate-term feasibility. In Phase II of this analysis, we explore the industrial opportunities in the remaining lower-48 states. Rhodium identified the facilities in Phase II as near- to intermediate-term carbon capture retrofit opportunities. Finally, in Phase III of this analysis, we explore the national opportunities at industrial and electric power facilities through mid-century. In addition to using the near-to intermediate-term facilities from the previous phases, Rhodium identified a separate group of long-term opportunities with carbon capture retrofit feasibility by 2050.

The direct economic benefits considered include private sector investment and employment opportunities associated with the construction and operation of carbon capture retrofits. The results show how individual states can play to their existing and unique strengths on their separate paths to decarbonization.

Read the Phase I Report (Oct. 15, 2020)

Read the Phase II Report (Jan. 28, 2021)

Read the Phase III Report (Apr. 20, 2021)