“Ethical Markets recommends this article “Capturing Carbon and Dollars” by Roy Morrison, who has joined our distinguished global Advisory Board. We are honored to welcome him to our ranks of globally-focused professionals in many disciplines.
~Hazel Henderson, Editor“
Capturing Carbon and Dollars: Mechanical and Biological Paths
Our recent business friendly Trump tax cut extravaganza now makes capturing carbon emissions from fossil fuels probably economic by paying $30 dollars a ton for carbon capture and storage. Compared to pollution and ecocide as usual this may be a good idea, as suggested by MIT Technology Review on April 25th.
Financial engineering has finally opened the door for carbon capture and storage. Tax subsidies for carbon capture are now part of our latest corporate friendly tax overhaul. The credit under U.S. Code 45Q Credit for Carbon Sequestration would provide $30 a ton benefit for the first 75 million metric tons of sequestered carbon or $2.25 billion. This could be the start of something big. A $30 dollar a ton tax credit subsidy for carbon dioxide capture and storage (CSS) means the cash registers are ringing. Wall Street is mobilized.
Fossil fuel plants generate huge amounts of carbon dioxide by weight because one atom of carbon combines with two atoms of oxygen. This means an average of 1.2 pounds of carbon dioxide per kilowatt hour of fossil fuel electricity. A thousand megawatt fossil fuel plant at 70% capacity factor would produce 3.7 million tons of carbon dioxide a year.
At $30 a ton this means $111 million dollars in tax equity a year. Every year. Not a one time thing like the solar ITC. For solar, tax equity investors take advantage of the 30% solar energy investment tax credit (ITC) are typically cash rich insurance companies or family offices, the quaint term for the administrators of the wealth of the very rich,who want to avoid taxes and make even more money without lifting a finger. Power plant owners may have requisite tax appetite to take advantage of carbon capture tax credits themselves so the tax credit is a direct benefit to these companies and their stockholders.
Allegedly this tax subsidy subsidy will lead to decreasing costs and will phase out. Allegedly. But history suggests otherwise in particular in regard to fossil fuel subsidies, and with this one supported by coal miners and environmentalists alike. And both Wall Street and Technology Review believes that scouring carbon from the air is inevitably to follow if we are to save ourselves.
It is certainly better paying polluters not to poison as much to avoid ecological catastrophe,mass extinction and an end to what we call advanced “civilization”.