Bob Perciasepe on CARB’s Carbon Capture inclusion in LCFS Program

Statement of Bob Perciasepe
President, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions
October 2, 2018

On the California Air Resource Board’s (CARB’s) passage of low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) amendments, including a new carbon capture and storage provision:

“California’s explicit inclusion of carbon capture in its updated LCFS program is enormously important to the nationwide acceptance of carbon capture, utilization, and storage as a valuable climate change tool. CARB Chair Mary Nichols and the staff of the Air Resources Board are to be commended for the two years of work that preceded this action.

“Carbon capture can help decarbonize the transportation sector by encouraging the capture of carbon dioxide from the production of ethanol used in low-carbon fuels. The new rule may have benefits beyond California’s borders, as it applies to any fuels sold in the state regardless of where they were produced.

“California has set ambitious climate goals, and carbon capture can play as large a part of the solution as the state is willing to accept. Carbon capture can limit emissions from sources like steel and cement production where no renewable solution exists, and the captured carbon is gaining as a commodity to be used in the growing low-carbon building materials market.

“The LCFS carbon capture provision is an important first step, but there are yet more carbon capture benefits for California. Regulators should continue to review the details of the rule, such as the post-injection monitoring regime, to ensure that they are workable and can encourage new projects to be developed in the state. And I also urge state lawmakers to consider how useful carbon capture can be to help California meet its new climate goals set by the recently enacted SB 100.”

Read more about the action here.


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