For immediate release
Sacramento, California – Climate change advocates have sharply criticized the California Air Resources Board’s final scoping plan, released today, for relying on carbon capture to reduce emissions. Among the details outlined in the scoping plan are plans to use carbon capture at refineries. The process has been criticized by environmental groups as a lifeline for fossil fuel companies to continue operating normally. Research by Food & Water Watch shows that carbon capture projects have been unsuccessful and rely heavily on federal funding to operate and function.
The fossil fuel industry is at the forefront of lobbying for carbon capture, particularly through the California Carbon Capture Coalition, whose members include fossil fuel giants such as Chevron, SoCalGas and Aera Energy. Aligned with the second quarter of 2022, these three members alone spent $2.2 million to work on priorities including carbon capture. ExxonMobil spent nearly twice as much in the first half of the year lobbying for CCS priorities.
Chirag G. Bhakta, California Director, Food & Water Watch In response, we issued the following statement:
“Carbon capture is a gift to the fossil fuel industry, allowing companies to maintain business as usual and relying on it to improve their emissions is silly. It reveals just how little fossil fuel companies believe in the efficiency of CCS, using unproven technology to boost their profits and greenwash their image. is disconcerting given that he is prepared to tax oil companies’ exorbitant profits. to reduce emissions from their sources, immediately stop issuing fossil fuel permits, and begin a just transition away from fossil fuels.”
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contact: Jessica Gable, (202) 683-2478, [email protected]
