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

According to a December 2023 report from the Congressional Budget Office, 15 carbon capture and storage facilities are operating in the United States. —Kelly Livingston, ABC News, 18 Mar. 2025

Withholding May Leave Seniors Broke Early Results Lila has already demonstrated applications in materials science, developing catalysts for green hydrogen production and materials for carbon capture – critical technologies for addressing climate change. —Greg Licholai Md, Forbes, 12 Mar. 2025

Driving the news: In off-the-record hallway conversations, background roundtables, and on-the-record interviews, decision-makers were largely interested in gas, carbon capture, and sustainable aviation fuel. —Alan Neuhauser, Axios, 11 Mar. 2025

The analyst also pointed to the company’s noncore businesses as attractive pieces of its portfolio and potential growth drivers, including small modular reactors and carbon capture, utilization and sequestration. —Brian Evans, CNBC, 13 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1971, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for carbon capture

• rapture
• recapture