By Heather Clancy
GreenBiz Group Editorial Director
President Trump’s administration may not believe in climate change, but it does believe in rewarding technologies to capture carbon emissions.
I’m referring, of course, to the sort-of-surprising extension of tax incentives for carbon-capture technologies included in the recently blessed U.S. budget for 2018 — an idea that received strong bipartisan support. It’s a credit of up to $20 per metric ton (there’s a smaller amount for commercial-scale equipment) over a 12-year period, which could translate into a whole lot of money for big projects.
The idea is controversial: purists would rather see the money go toward funding cleaner generating options. Plus, the credit feels like just another subsidy for the fossil fuels industry.
And yet, it’s hard to argue against the value of technologies that could sequester and store CO2, or draw it down, if you prefer that term. We need to attack both sides of this problem. These systems have been notoriously slow to develop, and this boost could spur renewed attention. Our featured article today unpacks the economics.
By:
George Schutzer
The Budget Act of 2018 expands and enhances the tax credits for climate technologies, which could have an important impact for companies.
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