Scientists Claim Carbon Capture Is Viable & Fossil Fuel Producers Should Bear The Costs

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The economic system that currently prevails in most of the world assigns no value to the waste products — mostly carbon dioxide and methane — that are created when any fossil fuel is burned. Therefore, the companies that produce them pay nothing to clean up the carbon dioxide and methane they create. Can you imagine how this distorts the economic process? What if you were in business and could escape paying for your waste products? Who wouldn’t like that deal? You could privatize the profits and socialize the costs. Sweet!

Scientists in the UK, the US, and the Netherlands have published a study in the journal Environmental Research Letters that claims carbon capture is now a viable technology and fossil fuel companies should be paying to remove the carbon dioxide attributable to their activities and storing it geologically as a condition of being allowed to operate.

The study, authored by Stuart Jenkins, Margriet Kuijper, Hugh Helferty, Cécile Girardin, and Myles Allen, argues that fossil fuel companies should be subject to what they call “extended producer responsibility.” In other words, they should be responsible for cleaning up the mess they have made. Fossil fuel companies should be forced to “take back” the carbon dioxide emitted from their products, handing them direct responsibility for cleaning up the environment.

Subscribers can read the full article here: Scientists Claim Carbon Capture Is Viable & Fossil Fuel Producers Should Bear The Costs


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Steve Hanley

Steve writes about the interface between technology and sustainability from his home in Florida or anywhere else The Force may lead him. He is proud to be "woke" and doesn't really give a damn why the glass broke. He believes passionately in what Socrates said 3000 years ago: "The secret to change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new." You can follow him on Substack and LinkedIn but not on Fakebook or any social media platforms controlled by narcissistic yahoos.

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