The climate crisis can feel quite overwhelming.

Its impacts are huge and wide-reaching, and it can feel like we’re too far gone to make much of an impact.

However, teams of scientists around the globe work tirelessly to develop strategies in which we can make a difference to preventing complete environmental catastrophe.

And the great news is that our governments are putting these plans into action.

In California, lawmakers have approved a massive carbon capture programme, which will seek to remove up to 46 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The carbon capture and storage facility, set to be constructed in San Joaquin Valley, California, will pump captured CO₂ deep underground. It will then be stored in the empty oil reservoirs underneath Elk Hills Oil Field in Kern County.

California Resources Corporation, who are behind the project, suggest that the project could capture and store over 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.

In a statement, the Corporation explain why this pioneering project is so significant:

“The storage reservoir has a total estimated capacity of up to 46 million metric tons of carbon dioxide . Once operational, the  project is expected to be capable of injecting and storing over 1 million metric tons of CO₂ per year, equivalent to the annual emissions of approximately 200,000 passenger vehicles. In addition to being California’s first carbon capture and storage project, it will be the first in the nation to utilize a depleted oil and gas reservoir for CO₂ sequestration.”

Though it is new to this area, carbon capture technology has been used safely and successfully across the world for some time.

It is controversial, since the climate-focused project doesn’t address the root cause of the problem. Rather than reducing the use of fossil fuels and other processes that cause these massive amounts of carbon to be released, carbon capture merely deals with the aftermath.

If we are to really tackle climate change, scientists and activists argue, we need to reduce our reliance on oil and gas – and not be releasing massive amounts of CO₂ in the first place.

In the statement, Francisco Leon – President and Chief Executive Officer of the California Resources Corporation highlighted the positive effect that the project will have on the climate and the local community:

“This is a significant step forward for Kern County and CRC in supporting energy transition in California. We believe that carbon capture technology will lead to the creation of new energy jobs and improve air quality in Kern County.”

While this is a step in the right direction – of course it’s great for the local economy and living conditions – it’s important that we don’t over rely on carbon capture technology.

It is one of several technologies we can use to fix our emissions in retrospect, but to truly safeguard our planet’s future, the switch to renewables is paramount.

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