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

Existing tax incentives—for carbon capture and storage, electric vehicles, solar, advanced nuclear power, geothermal energy and other sources—are also the key to the United States winning the global competition with China to capture trillions of dollars in the advanced energy global market. —Dan Perry, Newsweek, 19 Feb. 2025

For example, many carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies remain far from commercial viability. —David Carlin, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2025

Communities in the path of carbon capture projects also worry about the safety of the pipeline expansion. —Zoë Schlanger, The Atlantic, 19 Feb. 2025

The company has also been developing a carbon capture and storage (CCS) system, and began running a 1.2-MW system with scrubber manufacturer Wärtsilä in 2021. —Paul Ridden, New Atlas, 30 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1971, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for carbon capture

• rapture
• recapture