Fossil fuel companies and pro-carbon capture trade groups are capitalizing on AI’s growing energy demand to justify a new wave of dirty fossil-fuelled power plants— often wrapped in the fig leaf of carbon capture and storage (CCS) to appeal to big tech companies’ desire to be seen as green. This, despite the evidence that CCS is a smokescreen push by fossil fuel companies to make it appear that oil, gas, and coal can magically turn into “low carbon” fuels.

Carbon capture has become the fossil industry’s favorite lifeline — a convenient myth that lets polluters claim they can keep burning fossil fuels while staying “low-carbon.”

88% of CCS projects have failed, while close to 90% of proposed CCS capacity in the power sector was never built. Of the eight coal projects funded with $684 million in US public money, only one — the Petra Nova project in Texas — ever came online, capturing far less CO2 than claimed and then used captured CO2 to extract more oil, making it likely a net emitter.

Since 2005, the fossil fuel industry has spent $954 million lobbying the US government in favor of carbon capture, with half of the lobbying by just fifteen organizations, all of which have direct ties to fossil fuels. In return fossil fuel companies stand to receive over $30 billion in US subsidies for CCS through 2032 according to an official estimate.