Carbon Takeback provides the fossil fuel industry itself with the strongest possible incentive to make amends: survival.” Professor Stuart Haszeldine of the University of Edinburgh, a report co-author, says, “Investment in carbon dioxide capture and geological storage has, to date, been dependent on state subsidies, and consistently far below what is required to meet Paris climate goals. Oxford researcher Stuart Jenkins, lead author of the study, explains, “Despite the perceived high cost of carbon dioxide capture and storage, we show that the cost to the world economy of a Carbon Takeback Obligation, even if entirely passed on to fossil fuel consumers, is no higher than the cost of mitigation in conventional scenarios meeting similar goals driven by a global carbon price.”
A ground-breaking study by the Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh, published today (October 26, 2021) in the international energy journal Joule, explores the economic implications of imposing a carbon takeback obligation on the global fossil fuel industry, and shows it provides an affordable and low-risk route to net zero emissions, particularly if complemented by conventional measures to reduce near-term fossil fuel demand.
