Metrics to assess the mitigation of global warming by carbon capture and storage in the ocean and in geological reservoirs

Abstract

Different metrics to assess mitigation of global warming by carbon capture and storage are discussed. The climatic impact of capturing 30% of the anthropogenic carbon emission and its storage in the ocean or in geological reservoir are evaluated for different stabilization scenarios using a reduced-form carbon cycle-climate model. The accumulated Global Warming Avoided (GWA) remains, after a ramp-up during the first ∼50 years, in the range of 15 to 30% over the next millennium for deep ocean injection and for geological storage with annual leakage rates of up to about 0.001. For longer time scales, the GWA may approach zero or become negative for storage in a reservoir with even small leakage rates, accounting for the CO2 associated with the energy penalty for carbon capture. For an annual leakage rate of 0.01, surface air temperature becomes higher than in the absence of storage after three centuries only. Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union.