CO2 capture and conversion to fuels using renewable energy is being promoted as a climate change mitigation measure that reduces fossil fuel use by effectively recycling carbon. We examine this claim, first for a typical CO2 capture and utilization (CCU) system producing methanol (MeOH), and then for a generalized system producing fuels from fossil carbon. The MeOH analysis shows CCU to be an inferior mitigation option compared to a system with CCS producing the same fuel without CO2 utilization. CCU also is far more costly. The generalized analysis further reveals that the mitigation potential of CCU for fuels production is limited to 50% of the original emissions of the reference system without CCU. We further highlight that the main challenge to CCU cost reduction is not the CO2-to-fuel conversion step but the production of required carbon-free electricity at very low cost.
