Cutting Through The Hype And Getting Down To Business

The Realistic Path To Scalable Carbon Capture: Cutting Through The Hype And Getting Down To Business

getty

By Peter Bendor-Samuel, Founder and Executive Chairman, and Richard Sear, Managing Partner, Advanced SciTech

Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) isn’t just another ESG checkbox to tick off in an annual report. In this blog, Everest Group’s Peter Bendor-Samuel and Richard Sear bring together their perspectives from years of experience advising global enterprises and shaping advanced science and technology strategy. They argue that the urgency of climate change doesn’t leave us room for optimism dressed up as strategy. Instead of lofty promises or headline-grabbing announcements that fail to materialize, they call for a clear, business-driven approach, one grounded in innovation, scale, and economic reality.

CCU isn’t fiction, but it’s not turnkey, either

Carbon capture and utilization is already playing a meaningful role in the cement, steel, and chemical industries, sectors where direct decarbonization is nearly impossible without fundamental process changes. In these heavy-emitting industries, CCU is one of the few practical levers we can pull to cut emissions while keeping production intact.

But just like most breakthrough technologies, CCU has been pulled into a hype cycle. We’ve all heard the grand claims about gigaton-scale carbon removal in the near term, but in truth, most progress has been incremental. Technology works, but scaling it to a level that meaningfully impacts global emissions is an entirely different challenge.

Our recent report, Unlocking the Potential of Carbon Capture and Utilization: A Techno-economic and Policy Perspective, lays out a sobering yet actionable perspective. It makes it clear that CCU can be a powerful climate tool, and highlights both the real opportunities ahead and the technical, economic, and policy bottlenecks we still need to overcome.

The barriers to mainstream adoption

If CCU is going to move from niche projects to mainstream adoption, we need to acknowledge and address the barriers:

1. Fragile viability – Many CCU projects perform well in controlled environments or at demonstration scale, but stumble at commercial volumes. Technical reliability is a make-or-break factor when considering industrial integration.
2. High cost and complexity – Even with research-driven cost improvements, CCU is still expensive. The capital costs of capture equipment, plus the energy demands for capture and conversion processes, create a tough business case without subsidies or premium product markets.
3. Infrastructure and regulatory gaps – Many regions lack the pipelines, storage facilities, or integrated hubs required for efficient CO₂ transport and utilization. Add to this the uncertainty around permitting, carbon pricing, and compliance frameworks, and it’s no surprise that decision-makers hesitate to commit capital.

Real-world CCU moves – happening now, not someday

Despite the obstacles, the good news is that CCU is already being put to work in ways that go beyond theory or lab experiments:

• Pharmaceutical innovation – CCU-enabled catalysts are being tested to make drug development faster and less fossil-dependent.
• Industrial pilots – In steel and cement, early-stage projects are repurposing captured CO₂ into synthetic fuels, construction materials, and chemical intermediates.
• Carbon credit monetization – Forward-looking companies are already earning credits by capturing and storing emissions, feeding into voluntary and compliance carbon markets.

These are not headline-grabbing moonshots, they are modest, tangible steps that demonstrate real value. Every pilot, however small, builds confidence and technical know-how for future expansion.

Where the real momentum will come from

Scaling CCU will take more than better technology. It requires ecosystems that connect infrastructure, markets, and policy.

• Integrated infrastructure – We believe the real breakthroughs will come when we start building CCU hubs that bring the pieces together. When industrial emitters, renewable power, hydrogen production, and CO₂ transport and storage networks are co-located, we suddenly unlock efficiencies of scale. Clustering facilities reduces costs and creates a natural supply chain for captured carbon.
• Hybrid systems – CCU gets much more powerful when it’s paired with clean energy sources such as wind, solar, or blue hydrogen. Doing this not only lowers the overall footprint of the process, it also creates new revenue streams from CO₂-derived products. That dual-output model is what gives projects a faster and more convincing payback period.
• Policy levers that work – We can’t pretend policy doesn’t matter here. Effective carbon pricing, targeted tax credits, and standardized product quality for CO₂-derived goods are what turn captured carbon from a waste product into a resource. Look at tools like the U.S. 45Q tax credit and the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism as early examples of how policy can nudge markets in the right direction
• Talent and innovation ecosystems – Finally, we need to be realistic about the human side of scaling CCU. In our view, scaling the technology also means scaling the talent pool. We need engineers, chemists, financiers, and policy experts who not only understand the science, but also the business models and regulatory pathways that make commercialization possible.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the same blueprint that drives the growth of other disruptive technologies. Whether it’s quantum computing or renewable energy, we’ve learned that success comes from pairing technical innovation with market incentives and enabling infrastructure.

What leaders should do today

Executives and policymakers can take concrete steps now to build momentum for CCU, even in the face of uncertainty:

1. Identify priority use cases – Zero in on sectors like cement, refining, and chemicals where CCU has a clear path to impact. Look for opportunities to plug CCU into existing processes with minimal disruption.
2. Launch pilot programs – Start small. Pilots allow organizations to learn, adapt, and de-risk before scaling up. They can also leverage existing infrastructure to speed deployment and reduce costs.
3. Advocate for enabling policy – We think industry leaders need to engage with policymakers now to shape the incentives that will determine CCU’s trajectory, from credits and subsidies to streamlined permitting.
4. Experiment with hybrid models – Combining CCU with renewables, green hydrogen, or carbon marketplaces creates multiple value streams that make projects more resilient.

By moving early, leaders not only position themselves for competitive advantage, but they also help shape the regulatory and market conditions that will determine the future of CCU.

The bottom line: CCU, like quantum, is inevitable — but only for those who prepare

I don’t believe success will come to those who wait for perfect conditions. The firms and governments that treat CCU as a strategic imperative today will be the ones shaping tomorrow’s markets. When policy, innovation, and business insight align, CCU stops being a piece of green rhetoric and becomes good business. We believe the next decade will determine whether CCU remains a niche solution or becomes a cornerstone of industrial decarbonization.