Paper: GS – III, Subject: Environment and Ecology, Topic: Indian Initiatives, efforts and Commitments, Issue: Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU).
Context:
India, the world’s third-largest CO₂ emitter, is exploring Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) to reduce emissions from hard-to-abate sectors like cement, steel, and chemicals.
Key Takeaways:
What is CCU?
- Carbon Capture and Utilisation refer to technologies that capture COâ‚‚ emissions from industrial sources or directly from air, then convert them into useful products like fuels, chemicals, building materials, and polymers.
- Unlike carbon capture and storage (which permanently stores COâ‚‚ underground), CCU reuses captured carbon in the economy.
How CCU Reduces Carbon Dioxide Emissions:
- Removes COâ‚‚ from atmosphere and industrial sources: especially “hard-to-abate” sectors (cement, steel, chemicals).
- Converts captured carbon into economic value: Creates alternative feedstocks for fuels and chemicals
- Supports circular economy principles: Enables sustainable product manufacturing.
EU Bioeconomy Strategy and Circular Economy Action Plan:
- Explicitly supports CCU as sustainability mechanism: Converts COâ‚‚ into feedstocks for chemicals, fuels, materials
- Promotes integrated approach to resource management: Drives innovation in low-carbon industrial processes
Net-Zero 2070:
Key Risks in Scaling CCU:
- Cost competitiveness: Capturing, purifying, converting COâ‚‚ is energy-intensive and expensive and Without incentives, CCU products cannot compete with fossil-based alternatives
- Infrastructure gaps: Uneven development across Indian industrial regions and Lack of integrated COâ‚‚ transport and storage systems
- Market uncertainty: Absence of standards and certification and Limited demand signals for COâ‚‚-derived products
CCU offers India a pragmatic pathway to decarbonise heavy industry while building new value chains. However, without policy incentives, cost reduction, and infrastructure readiness, scaling CCU beyond pilot projects will remain difficult.
Source: (The Hindu)
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