Why We Celebrate Carbon Management Day

December 1 (12.01) is Carbon Management Day (because 12.01 is the atomic mass of carbon)! To celebrate, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) is hosting a Carbon Management Day webinar on Friday, December 1, 2023 at 12:01 p.m. EST, which will provide an update on FECM’s engagement activities, highlight DOE-wide carbon management initiatives, and discuss recent carbon management projects and funding. The webinar will provide the latest news and announcements, feature a fireside chat with DOE carbon management leaders, and inform stakeholders on how they can get involved in our efforts.

The webinar will feature carbon management stakeholders from across industry, academia, and communities to celebrate the progress that has been made and the work that still needs to be done to meet the Biden-Harris Administration’s climate goals. The Carbon Management Day webinar is fully virtual, free, and open to the public and press. Any questions about the webinar can be addressed to [email protected]

Why do we celebrate Carbon Management Day? Read below five statistics about carbon management and its importance to our clean energy and industrial economy!

1. Essential to meeting climate goals. The economy-wide deployment of carbon management technologies and infrastructure in energy, industry, and manufacturing are central to achieving the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. Modeling studies suggest that reaching U.S. climate goals will require capturing and storing 400 to 1,800 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually by 2050.
2. Creates good paying jobs. The carbon management industry has the potential to create more than 100,000 good paying jobs during the construction and operation of projects by 2035 and provide economic benefits to affected communities.
3. Safely stores carbon dioxide. Safe and permanent geologic storage of carbon dioxide is proven. To date, more than a quarter of a billion tons of carbon dioxide has been captured and stored globally. That’s equal to driving over 50 million gasoline-powered passenger vehicles for one year!
4. Reduces carbon dioxide emissions from the power and heavy industry sectors. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act provided unprecedented funding to deliver real-world carbon management solutions, which, over time, can result in the reduction of hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year from those committed through existing power plants in addition to hard to decarbonize industries such as cement, steel, chemicals, and glass. Commercial carbon capture projects have demonstrated capture rates above 90%, and capture technologies across DOE’s portfolio have demonstrated capture rates exceeding 95%.
5. Provides economic opportunities. Federal investments made in carbon management projects leverage private sector dollars, help spur industry innovation, and bring down the costs of critical technologies. For example, DOE’s investment to support Regional Direct Air Capture Hubs could result in as much as 1.3 billion in private investment across the country.

If you’re interested in learning more about DOE’s carbon management work, register for the Carbon Management Day webinar.