“The Role of Carbon Capture in Meeting Net-zero Carbon Goals”

Jennifer Wilcox

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, Office of Fossil Energy, U.S. Department of Energy

Abstract

President Biden has laid out a bold and ambitious goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions in the U.S. by 2050. The pathway to that target includes cutting total greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and eliminating them entirely from the nation’s electricity sector by 2035. Meeting those objectives will require investing in technology research, design, development, and deployment, including investments in carbon capture at point sources as well as carbon dioxide removal approaches that target accumulated atmospheric carbon.

These approaches are critical to achieving net-zero and must be deployed in parallel, which will require the use of resources including land, water, and in some cases, low-carbon energy. Therefore, carbon capture and storage and carbon dioxide renewal technologies must be deployed strategically in terms of regional goals and requirements. The Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management will play an important role in the transition to net-zero carbon emissions by reducing the environmental impacts of fossil energy production and use – and helping decarbonize other hard-to abate sectors – through investments in technology solutions including CCS, direct air capture, and the deployment of carbon capture technologies to produce low-carbon products and fuel, including hydrogen.

Bio

Jennifer Wilcox is the principal deputy assistant secretary in the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management at the U.S. Department of Energy and is on leave as the Presidential Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering and Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, she was the James H. Manning Chaired Professor of Chemical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. She was also a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute, where she led the Carbon Removal Program.

Wilcox holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and an M.A. in chemistry from the University of Arizona, as well as a B.A. in mathematics from Wellesley College. Wilcox’s research takes aim at the nexus of energy and the environment, developing both mitigation and adaptation strategies to minimize negative climate impacts associated with society’s dependence on fossil fuels. She has served on committees of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Physical Society to assess carbon capture methods and impacts on climate. She is the author of the first textbook on carbon capture and co-edited the CDR Primer.