The United States is squandering its lead in carbon dioxide removal and leaving an opening for other countries to win the race to commercialize the most promising technologies for pulling CO2 from the sky, according to a new report from a pair of top British universities.
The report published Wednesdayanalyzed global patents related to direct air capture (DAC) and bio-energy with carbon capture and sequestration (BECCS) from 2000 until 2020, the most recent year for which complete data was available, and found that the U.S. was responsible for more than a quarter of all patents during that period. The U.S. is one of only four countries worldwide that has existing or planned DAC and BECCS plants, along with the United Kingdom, France and Canada.
But President Donald Trump’s hostility to federal research and climate programs is creating “policy uncertainty” for the nation’s carbon removal industry and creating “an opportunity for other countries,” said the report from the London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of Oxford.
“Our research shows that countries with longstanding oil and gas industries are uniquely positioned to take the lead on carbon dioxide removal, if public investment is prioritised now,” said Siyu Feng, a researcher at Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, in a press release. “Well-targeted policy support for carbon removal can accelerate deployment in the right sectors and, if designed carefully, will complement rather than compromise broader climate goals.”
