Building our way to Net-Zero: Carbon Dioxide Pipelines in the United States

The United States must rapidly deploy a portfolio of climate mitigation technologies, including application of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology across broad sectors of the economy, to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Net-zero models indicate much of the carbon dioxide (CO2) captured by new CCS and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) projects will rely on new CO2 pipelines linking capture facilities to permanent storage sites. The current network of CO2 pipelines in the United States is insufficient. 

In a recent $500 million funding announcement for safe and reliable carbon dioxide transportation systems, the US Department of Energy Assistant Secretary of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, Brad Crabtree said, “To successfully achieve our climate goals, it is critical to ensure that we have adequate infrastructure in place to accommodate the growing volumes of carbon dioxide over the next 25 years that we must capture from industrial facilities, power plants, and future direct air capture projects and then transport to geologic formations for permanent storage.” 

Although 2050 is nearly 30 years away, CO2 transportation infrastructure needs to be built now to scale up carbon management in line with US net-zero targets. CCS is available today and if we start building new CO2 pipelines now, we can connect CO2 capture facilities to CO2 storage sites to meet our climate change goals. 

Read the Institute’s thought leadership report titled, “Building Our Way to Net Zero: Carbon Dioxide Pipelines in the United States” which provides facts about: 

• Why the world needs to mitigate CO2 emissions 
• Why CO2 pipelines are vital infrastructure required to address climate change 
• The legal and regulatory state of play of CO2 pipelines in the US 
• Pipeline safety, risks, and best practices 
• The need for community engagement 

This report was authored jointly by the Global CCS Institute and Det Norske Veritas (DNV) with collaboration from the Great Plains Institute, University of Texas, Bureau of Economic Geology, and Process Performance Improvement Consultants, LLC. 

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