Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) and climate change mitigation: An analysis of economic optimality and policy making

Abstract

This dissertation attempts to analyze carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) as a policy and economic issue, viewing the subject from three different angles. The first part of this dissertation deals with an optimality analysis of underground geological CCS being a non-renewable resource with a limited capacity. By using an analytical dynamic optimization model, I analyze the optimal paths of CCS use, CCS's social costs, and their difference from the operational costs. The second piece of this dissertation performs a numerical simulation of potential CCS use by using a modified version of DICE (Dynamic Integrated model on Climate and Economy), one of the most widely used integrated assessment models on climate change. The novelty of this work lies in its particular attention to CCS among various means of carbon control. I quantitatively assess the economic optimality of CCS use in various contingencies through sensitivity analysis. The last third of the dissertation investigates the making of a Special Report on CCS by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released in 2005, through interviews and document research. The report making was a challenging and also sensitive project for IPCC scientists because it dealt with two conflicting realities: large scientific uncertainty about CCS and policymakers' needs to promote their political agenda with the resulting report. In order to fulfill this sensitive task, the IPCC formed an extended peer community of participants, including not only professional scientists but also other stakeholders such as nongovernmental organization (NGO) members, and the project made some success with a relative good reception by a broad range of people. This may not mean, however, that the IPCC process played a decisive role in consensus building among the public about the application of CCS in various locations of the world.