Accelerating the offshore CCUS to carbon-neutral China

Abstract

Offshore carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) is to capture CO${}_2$ from emission sources and then inject the captured CO${}_2$ into sub-seabed geological reservoirs, thus it will be permanently isolated from the atmosphere. CCUS was therefore proposed as a technological decarbonization strategy to prevent millions of tonnes of anthropogenic CO${}_2$ from entering and remaining in the atmosphere. In this review, the necessity and suitability of offshore CCUS in China are explored, involving examining the potential for sedimentary basins offshore China to act as carbon sinks for industrialized coastal regions and investigating the opportunities of developing a commercial full value chain. In China, the CO${}_2$ emissions from the 14 coastal provincial administrative regions are estimated to be over 4.2 Gt, occupying $\sim$41% of the country’s carbon emissions, whereas the storage capacity of the sedimentary basins offshore China is estimated to be 573–779 GtCO${}_2$. This could total 140–190 years of emissions from China’s coastal regions, which also avoids complex legal regulation and public opposition. However, economic costs pose substantial challenges to deploying offshore CCUS on a commercial scale, which requires significant technological innovations, national contributions, and business investments, particularly in the eastern and southeastern regions.