本文转自《Moring Cousult》发布的题为“Carbon Capture and Climate Change: Cut the Nonsense”的报道。

作者：BRAD PAGE

日期：20190116

原文链接：https://morningconsult.com/opinions/carbon-capture-climate-change-cut-nonsense/

What role does carbon capture and storage play in the energy transition? Al Gore, one of the most important climate change champions, recently called these technologies that capture CO2 and prevent it from entering the atmosphere by storing it underground “nonsense” in an interview with Axios during COP24.

碳捕获和储存在能源转型中扮演什么角色？ Al Gore是最重要的气候变化倡导者之一，他最近称这些技术捕获二氧化碳，并通过在COP24期间接受Axios采访时说到，将CO2存储在地下来组织CO2进入大气层是“胡说八道”。

This is unfortunate. It is also wrong. Hopefully, the following may shed some light on the progress already made and the ever-increasing, absolute need for CCS.

这很不幸。 这也是错的。 希望以下内容可以说明已经取得的进展以及对CCS不断增长的绝对需求。

Let’s be clear upfront. The Paris Agreement target of between 2 and 1.5 degrees Celsius is a massively difficult objective, so much so that in the three years since the agreement was thrashed out, the world remains stubbornly stuck on a 3C+ trajectory.

让我们先说清楚。 巴黎协议目标在2到1.5摄氏度之间是一个非常困难的目标，以至于在协议被打破后的三年里，世界仍然顽固地坚持3C +轨道。

Time is running out. We require every possible emissions-busting technology available. That includes CCS.

时间不多了。 我们需要所有可能的排放破坏技术。 这包括CCS。

The recent report on pathways to achieve 1.5 degrees C by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change calls for rapid and life-changing actions in order to prevent destructive consequences of climate change. Three of its four pathways include CCS. Net-zero emissions at mid-century is the goal dictating the pace.

政府间气候变化专门委员会最近关于实现1.5摄氏度的途径的报告呼吁采取快速和改变生活的行动，以防止气候变化的破坏性后果。 其四条途径中有三条包括CCS。 本世纪中叶的净零排放是决定速度的目标。

The International Energy Agency laid out in its Sustainable Development Scenario — in which the world reaches the energy-related United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement — that CCS accounts for at least 7 percent of cumulative emissions reductions by 2040. Far from regarding CCS as nonsense, these credible, analytical and independent organizations see it as vital.

国际能源机构在其可持续发展情景中 - 世界达到了与能源有关的联合国可持续发展目标和巴黎协定 -  CCS占到2040年累计减排量的至少7％。远非CCS 作为废话，这些可信，分析和独立的组织认为它至关重要。

Much of the CCS debate focuses on the electricity sector, where we have diverse options for decarbonization, including CCS. But even there the realities are confronting.

CCS的大部分争论都集中在电力行业，我们在那里有不同的脱碳选择，包括CCS。 但即便如此，现实也面临着挑战。

The average age of coal-fired power plants in developing Asian nations is just 14 years. They have an average remaining life of about 40 years, and their premature closure is unlikely. The emissions from these facilities cannot be ignored. Nor can they be wished away.

发展中亚洲国家的燃煤电厂的平均年龄仅为14年。 他们的平均剩余寿命约为40年，不太可能过早关闭。 这些设施的排放量不容忽视。 他们也不能被抛弃。

Even in developed countries, the challenge of balancing electricity grids with ever-increasing intermittent renewables is real. Zero-emission electricity is central to the future carbon-free economy. But with balancing services likely to continue to be dominated by gas-fired plants for several decades yet, CCS is necessary.

即使在发达国家，平衡电网与不断增加的间歇性可再生能源的挑战也是如此。 零排放电力是未来无碳经济的核心。 但是，由于平衡服务可能会继续由燃气电厂主导数十年，CCS是必要的。

The industrial sector, responsible for about a quarter of global emissions, however, has few options to decarbonize and will be relying in large measure on CCS for its low-carbon future. Decarbonizing sectors such as steel, fertilizer, cement, plastics, chemicals and paper is not a matter of substituting fossil energy with zero-emission electricity.

然而，占全球排放量约四分之一的工业部门几乎没有脱碳的选择，并将在很大程度上依赖CCS来实现其低碳未来。 钢铁，化肥，水泥，塑料，化学品和纸张等脱碳行业不是用零排放电力替代化石能源的问题。

Most of these processes require either carbon in their chemistry or high heat input, neither of which electricity is able to provide. In fact, 16 out of the total 18 large-scale operating CCS facilities globally are in the industrial sector, including natural gas processing and ethanol production. That’s because CCS is proven, cost effective and works when supported by government policy.

这些过程中的大多数都需要化学中的碳或高热量输入，电力都不能提供。事实上，全球18个大型CCS设施中有16个属于工业部门，包括天然气加工和乙醇生产。这是因为CCS经过验证，具有成本效益，并且在政府政策的支持下可以运作。

And then we have the need for carbon dioxide removal — negative emission technologies — because all of the credible analyses show that we are beyond the point of simply abating our way out of this mess. We will have to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Directly capturing the CO2 as well as using biomass for energy, both with CO2 storage, will be necessary and on a large scale.

然后我们需要去除二氧化碳 - 负排放技术 - 因为所有可靠的分析表明我们已经超出了简单地减少我们摆脱这种混乱的方式。我们将不得不从大气中去除二氧化碳。直接捕获二氧化碳以及使用生物质作为能源，二氧化碳储存都是必要的，并且是大规模的。

It has to be clearly understood that CCS is not about replacing or competing with other sources of clean energy such as energy efficiency and renewable energy. This is not an “either-or” debate; it’s about the “and.” CCS is about delivering additional emissions reductions on the road to net-zero, especially in those sectors, where these clean energy sources reach their limits.

必须清楚地理解，CCS不是要替换能源效率和可再生能源等其他清洁能源来替代或竞争。这不是“两个或两个”的争论;它是关于“和。”CCS是关于在净零点的道路上实现额外的减排，特别是在这些清洁能源达到极限的那些部门。

The cost of CCS depends on the application and can range between $20 and $130 per tonne of CO2, depending on the purity of the CO2 stream. What seems high at first glance is actually incredibly cost effective when the alternatives are costed and priced on a like-for-like basis.

CCS的成本取决于应用，每吨二氧化碳可以在20美元到130美元之间，具体取决于二氧化碳流的纯度。乍一看似乎很高的成本实际上是非常划算的，当替代品的成本和价格相似的基础上。

What is needed to drive deployment at scale is policy confidence. The IEA has concluded that 70 percent of global energy investments are expected to be driven by government decisions. Hence, how the energy transition will pan out lies with governments.

大规模推动部署需要的是政策信心。国际能源机构的结论是，预计全球70％的能源投资将由政府决策推动。因此，能源转型将如何发展，这取决于政府。

For CCS, the United States, Norway, the UK, Canada and Australia have set significant precedents in terms of policy incentives, storage mapping and legal and regulatory frameworks. With this experience, we know how to establish the right policies.

对于CCS，美国，挪威，英国，加拿大和澳大利亚在政策激励，存储映射以及法律和监管框架方面树立了重要先例。凭借这些经验，我们知道如何制定正确的政策。

Rapid changes and transformations of infrastructure are not simple. But as we have witnessed throughout history, they are achievable. Time has run out for us to be battling over which technologies should be part of the solution. So why all this nonsense?

基础设施的快速变化和转变并不简单。但正如我们在历史上所见证的那样，它们是可以实现的。时间已经不复存在，我们正在争论哪些技术应该成为解决方案的一部分。那么为什么所有这些废话呢？

Brad Page is the CEO of the Global CCS Institute, an international climate change think tank backed by governments and companies whose mission is to accelerate the deployment of CCS globally.

Brad Page是GCCSI的首席执行官，该研究所是一个由政府和公司支持的国际气候变化智库，其使命是加速全球CCS的部署。