carbon capture

noun

plural carbon captures

1

: any of various methods of removing carbon dioxide (as from industrial emissions) to reduce its presence in the atmosphere

Carbon capture can be applied to large-scale emissions processes, including coal and gas-fired power generation …

—Global CCS Institute

Direct ocean carbon capture operations look a bit like desalination or wastewater treatment plants, though something quite different is going on inside their systems of filters, tubes, pumps and tanks.

—Brooke Staggs

Aramco has developed an innovative mobile carbon capture system that sharply reduces CO₂ emissions from a heavy-duty truck.

—Oil and Gas Climate Initiative

also : such a method combined with storing the carbon dioxide to keep it from entering the atmosphere : carbon capture and storage

Those bent on bringing down the fossil-fuel industry are also less than thrilled with the … push for technologies such as carbon capture, which removes and stores carbon emissions …

—Valerie Richardson

2

: the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by living vegetation : carbon sequestration

Plants perform carbon capture every day through photosynthesis, and they actually do so quite well.

—Patrick Biller

Trees are nature's best carbon capture technology and have been working to clean the air since the first leafy frond appeared on Earth …

—Georgette Kilgore

Examples of carbon capture in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Implementing carbon capture and storage technologies could help lower their carbon footprint by capturing emissions during operations. —Sahit Muja, Forbes, 22 Nov. 2024

Under the new measure, the EPA chose carbon capture as the best system of emission reduction for existing coal plants operating beyond 2038. —Melissa Quinn, CBS News, 16 Oct. 2024

Renewable fuel producer Gevo plans to acquire an ethanol plant in North Dakota that uses carbon capture tech for $210 million. —Katie Fehrenbacher, Axios, 12 Sep. 2024

This includes doubling down on carbon capture, utilization, and storage processes, which captures the carbon dioxide emitted from industrial plants to be used elsewhere or injected deep into the Earth for storage. —Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, Fortune, 1 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1971, in the meaning defined at sense 2