In 2011, C2ES and Great Plains Institute co-founded the Carbon Capture Coalition, a nonpartisan, nonprofit collaboration of more than 100 companies, labor unions, and conservation and environmental policy organizations working to accelerate commercial deployment of carbon management technologies. The Coalition is now an independent organization, with which C2ES engages as a participant.
Carbon Capture Coalition members work to build federal policy support that enables nationwide, commercial-scale deployment of carbon management technologies, which are a critical suite of tools that can drive down emissions across sectors, bolster domestic energy and industrial sectors, and support workers with a broad range of skill sets. These technologies include carbon capture, removal, transport, reuse, and storage from industrial facilities, power plants, and ambient air.
The Coalition’s policy priorities focus on addressing large-scale market, regulatory, and infrastructure challenges to broad commercialization of carbon management technologies, such as:
- Ensuring federal incentives, like the 45Q tax credit for geologic storage of carbon dioxide and other carbon oxides, are right-sized to help early commercial projects close the cost gap and secure the financing necessary for deployment across a range of industries
- Ensuring permitting and regulatory frameworks are in place and sufficiently staffed to support the build out of safe, reliable carbon dioxide transport and storage infrastructure
- Supporting market development by encouraging domestic demand for lower-carbon products and carbon removal
- Continuing to invest in research and development to ensure the US remains a global leader in advancing carbon management technologies and innovation
A notable example of the impact of Carbon Capture Coalition’s work was in 2018, when they helped secure a decisive victory with the bipartisan reform of the 45Q tax credit, through legislation sponsored by Senators Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.). In addition to extending the lifetime of the credit, this legislation opened the applicability of 45Q, so that capture of carbon monoxide from industrial facilities like steel production, direct air capture of CO2 from the atmosphere, and conversion of captured carbon into useful products, could all qualify for the credit.
Continued engagement with members of Congress since 2018 has led to subsequent enhancement of the 45Q tax credit, both in 2022 under the Biden administration and again in 2025 under the Trump administration, reflecting carbon management’s longstanding and bipartisan support as a key domestic energy and emissions reduction tool.
You can visit the Carbon Capture Coalition’s website to find more details about specific policy priorities, or to see a list of Carbon Capture Coalition members.
