What is carbon capture technology, and can it actually reverse climate change?

The answer

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) encompasses technologies that capture CO₂ from emission sources or directly from the atmosphere. Point-source capture at industrial facilities is the most mature approach; Norway's Sleipner project has stored 1 million tons of CO₂ annually in undersea geological formations since 1996. Direct air capture (DAC) is newer: Climeworks' Orca plant in Iceland, operational since September 2021, captures 4,000 tons of CO₂ per year and stores it as mineral carbonates underground. Its successor, Mammoth (opened June 2024), scales to 36,000 tons annually. The US Department of Energy has committed $3.5 billion to develop regional DAC hubs. Current costs range from $250–$600 per ton of CO₂ for DAC. The IPCC estimates that limiting warming to 1.5°C will require removing 6–10 billion tons of CO₂ annually by 2050, making CCS a necessary complement to emission reductions.