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Environmental Non-Government Organisation (ENGO) perspectives on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)

In order for global average temperatures to remain within bounds that may avoid the dangerous impacts of climate change, global CO2 emissions would need to peak within the next decade, and decrease at the very least by 50-85 per cent compared to year 2000 levels by mid-century. CCS is an important tool in the fight to reduce global carbon emissions for a range of reasons. This report looks at several core motivations for the deployment of CCS. The first reason is that it offers a pathway to reduce emissions from fossil-fuelled stationary sources. A second reason is that the deployment of a portfolio of technologies is not only likely to increase the probability of delivering economy-wide emission reduction outcomes, but is also likely to result in lower overall costs of mitigation. A third reason is that for some industrial applications, there are few other ways available today to achieve large emission reductions.