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

To the question of climate change, there is definitely a carbon capture element that is key to regenerative farming, meaning that our operations are often carbon neutral or even net negative. —John Mariani, Forbes, 17 Mar. 2025

The solutions involve reducing electricity usage; making coal plants more efficient; using hydrogen, carbon capture, and storage technologies; promoting the use of renewables; installing new types of nuclear reactors; and encouraging cross-border power transfers. —IEEE Spectrum, 13 Mar. 2025

Dimas Ardian | Bloomberg | Getty Images HOUSTON — Microsoft is open to deploying natural gas with carbon capture technology to power artificial intelligence data centers, the technology company’s vice president of energy told CNBC. —Spencer Kimball, CNBC, 11 Mar. 2025

The bill also states that any new natural gas plant would have to be able to convert to hydrogen or zero-emissions biofuel and use carbon capture in the future. —Rachel McCrea, Baltimore Sun, 10 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1971, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for carbon capture

• rapture
• recapture