S1E125: South-East Asia’s carbon storage dreams: Visionary climate solution or folly?

South-East Asia has big plans to become a regional carbon storage hub. Can it work or are the risks too great? Synopsis: Every first and third Sunday of the month, The Straits Times analyses the beat of the changing environment, from biodiversity conservation to climate change. For years now, we’ve heard a lot about carbon capture and storage as one possible solution to climate change. CCS, as it is known, involves capturing carbon dioxide emissions from polluting operations, such as power plants, refineries and steel and cement production and injecting the CO2 deep underground.  And not just anywhere. It has to be the right type of geological formation to ensure the CO2 doesn’t escape.  But CCS hasn’t taken off quite as well as many, especially those in the fossil fuel industry, had hoped for. There have been several very costly failures. And yet there are plans to greatly scale up CCS, including the creation of regional CCS hubs. One of these is in South-east Asia, using depleted oil and gas wells.  This would lock away CO2 captured from industries in the region, or, CO2 brought in by tanker ships from major polluting nations such as Japan. So, is this a good idea? Can it make a difference in fighting climate change? Or, is it just storing up trouble for the future? To tell ST's climate change editor David Fogarty more about this is energy sector expert Grant Hauber, advisor for Asia for the Institute for Energy Economics & Financial Analysis, a US-based think tank.  Highlights of conversation (click/tap above): 2:02 What is carbon capture and storage? 4:33 What are CCS hubs and can you explain the regional plans to create them? 8:43 CCS has been around for several decades. What have we learned? 17:10 And what about liability? Who’s responsible for any leaks? 21:01 CCS remains expensive. Will a high carbon price per tonne drive investment? 25:18 And what about alternative methods to remove CO2? Produced by: David Fogarty ([email protected]), Ernest Luis & Hadyu Rahim  Edited by: Hadyu Rahim Follow Green Pulse Podcast here and rate us: Channel: https://str.sg/JWaf Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWaY Spotify: https://str.sg/JWag Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts Feedback to: [email protected] Follow David Fogarty on X: https://str.sg/JLM6 Read his articles: https://str.sg/JLMu --- Discover more ST podcast channels: All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7 The Usual Place: https://str.sg/wEr7u In Your Opinion: https://str.sg/w7Qt COE Watch: https://str.sg/iTtE Asian Insider: https://str.sg/JWa7 Health Check: https://str.sg/JWaN Green Pulse: https://str.sg/JWaf Your Money & Career: https://str.sg/wB2m Hard Tackle: https://str.sg/JWRE #PopVultures: https://str.sg/JWad Music Lab: https://str.sg/w9TX --- ST Podcast website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts ST Podcasts YouTube: https://str.sg/4Vwsa --- Special edition series: True Crimes Of Asia (6 eps): https://str.sg/i44T The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuZ2 Invisible Asia (9 eps): https://str.sg/wuZn Stop Scams (10 eps): https://str.sg/wuZB Singapore's War On Covid (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuJa --- Get The Straits Times' app, which has a dedicated podcast player section: The App Store: https://str.sg/icyB Google Play: https://str.sg/icyX --- #greenpulseSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.