What is Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS)?

• CCUS is a process that involves the capture of carbon dioxide, its processing, transportation, and either storing it or converting it into value-added products.
• Different types of CCUS techniques exist, but the primary focus is on capturing carbon from large emitters such as power generators or industries that use fossil fuels or biomass as fuel.
• Alongside MoPNG, the Ministry of Coal also plans to employ CCUS technologies for effective carbon capture.
• To streamline these efforts, the central government is working on unveiling a comprehensive national policy on CCUS.

India's Greenhouse Gas Emissions:

• India stands as the third largest emitter of carbon, trailing only China and the US. In 2019, India was responsible for 7% of total CO2 emissions worldwide, amounting to 2.65 Giga tonnes of CO2 annually.
• To put this into perspective, China and the US accounted for 28% and 15% of total global emissions, respectively.
• CCUS is, therefore, a crucial tool for India to meet its nationally determined contribution targets.
• As per the updated NDC, India aims to reduce the Emissions Intensity of its GDP by 45 per cent by 2030, from the 2005 level. Additionally, it plans to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
• Based on MoPNG data, the top three sectors contributing to greenhouse gas emissions in India are the energy sector (68.7%), Agriculture (19.6%) and Industrial processes (6%).

Government's Approach to CCUS:

• Initially, the government plans to use the oilfields of state-owned oil marketing companies for prospective CCUS projects.
• The idea is to capture CO2 from oilfields in Koyali, Gujarat and Digboi, Assam, owned by the Indian oil corporation. This captured CO2 will then be transported to ONGC’s Gandhar oil field in Gujarat and Oil India’s Naharkatiya oil field in Assam, respectively, to enhance oil recovery and sequestration.
• The coal ministry has proposed a production-linked incentive scheme for coal gasification projects to achieve its target of 100 million tonnes (MT) of coal gasification capacity in the country by 2030.
• As coal continues to be the primary source of power generation in India, coal gasification is seen as a way to make it a cleaner source of energy.
• NTPC plans to capture waste flue gas CO2 and utilize it to develop value-added products.
• According to NTPC, using flue gas CO2 along with green hydrogen to produce fuel-grade methanol is a significant step towards generating green power.